Special Kind of Hell
by jackandsamforever
Summary: Andy and Sharon have to go undercover as a married couple to catch a killer. Things don't realllly go as planned.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** Hello! I'm new to the Shandy ship, and just barely finished my first watch through of Major Crimes. Such a good show. I haven't written anything for any fandom for well over six months, but Shandy had made me want to write again. Hopefully this isn't too out of character, and if it is, just know that I'm constantly working to get better. Thanks for reading. :)

This is set sometime in season 3.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own anything related to Major Crimes.

* * *

Provenza and Flynn stood in a large, empty field with matching grimaces on their faces a few feet from the disfigured bodies of a man and a woman. These murders had been brutal, and Andy in particular didn't have the stomach for it today.

He turned to Provenza and gestured at the couple on the ground who were wrapped in towels from a place called _Happy Campers._ "Should we call the Captain?" He averted his eyes from the bloody mess and tried not to think about how he shouldn't have eaten anything before he came. It didn't matter how many times he saw a body, it never seemed to get any easier.

"No, not yet." Provenza turned to Tao and Buzz, who were talking to Kendall. "Tao, find out where and what this "Happy Campers" place is, and Buzz, are you done yet?"

Mike nodded and took his phone out while Buzz rolled his eyes discreetly and confirmed that he was done. Provenza turned back to Kendall and gestured at the bodies again. "Well, how did these poor souls die?"

The Coroner sighed heavily. "I'd say they were beaten to death, probably been here for at least a few days, and they definitely weren't killed here. There's no sign of a struggle, just drag marks." He gestured towards the four sets of drag marks in the tall weeds. "Morales will be able to tell you more."

Provenza looked at Andy. "I'd say now is a good time to call the Captain, then I want you to follow the bodies to the morgue. This one isn't sitting right with me."

Andy nodded and stepped away to make the call as the crime scene was investigated and wrapped up behind him.

XXX

Sharon yawned widely as she stepped off the elevator to meet her team in the murder room. She was exhausted, and no amount of coffee seemed to help much these days. Cases seemed to be lasting longer, and downtime had been almost nonexistent for months; she was ready for a break.

She walked in to find Sykes, with a cast on her leg, and Julio setting up the white board, and Tao and Buzz sitting by the computers working on identifying the victims. Provenza and Andy were nowhere to be seen, but she figured they were on their way.

Without preamble, she said, "What do we have?"

Tao stood up and walked over to the board to pin pictures of the victims up. "We have identities. Allison Cooley, age 45 and Jacob Cooley, age 50. Married 10 years, no kids." He turned to look at her and continued, "Happy Campers" is a camp for troubled marriages. I called and asked the director about this particular couple, but he wouldn't give me anything without a warrant."

Raydor nodded, "Thank you, Mike." She opened her mouth to ask Julio a question when Provenza and Andy walked in mid-argument.

"I don't care, Provenza. You never let m-" He stopped talking when he saw that the entire room was watching him. Instead of finishing his sentence, he flashed a small smile at the Captain, then headed towards his desk without another word; turning and rolling his eyes at Provenza's back before setting case files down next to his computer.

He listened to Raydor greet Provenza, then ask Julio something as he took his suit coat off and draped it over the back of his chair. His attention wandered as the team updated the Captain with everything they knew at the moment. He only started listening when he heard his name.

"Flynn can go with you, ma'am, but I still don't like it."

He stood up and joined the rest of the team. "Wait, what? What am I being volunteered for this time?" He folded his arms and looked at everyone expectantly.

Before anyone could answer him, Provenza chimed in, "Well if you'd quit daydreaming and actually pay attention, then maybe you wouldn't be volunteered for so many things." He smirked as Andy opened his mouth to argue.

Raydor interrupted them before it could become a full-fledged argument and turned to Andy, who was standing a few feet away from her. "We think the best way to investigate the murders is to go undercover so not to raise any suspicion. We need to know if they were murdered by a fellow camper, or if the camp is unrelated. This is the quickest way to do that."

Andy looked at her incredulously, just how long had he not been paying attention that they had time to plan all this out?

"Captain, why not let Sykes and Cooper do this? They have the train-"

Raydor cut him off before he could get a full head of steam, "Lieutenant, Cooper is already on another case, and you know as well as I do that Amy is injured and out of any undercover action for a while."

Of course he knew that, but just the thought of going undercover with the Captain and having to tamp down his already growing attraction for her while pretending to be married to her was going to be a special kind of hell. But it didn't sound like he had much choice in the matter, and he definitely didn't want her going with Julio or Mike.

He nervously tugged on his black suspenders and sighed without looking at the Captain. "Tell me again why getting a warrant wouldn't be easier?"

Raydor answered with a small smile before anyone else could. "Because, Andy, sometimes people are more honest and willing to talk when they don't know that it's the police who are asking."

She had a point...unfortunately.

"Alright, alright, when do we leave then?"

He couldn't help but glare as he watched Provenza smile knowingly at him behind the Captain's back.

XXX

Andy pulled the rental car into one of the three available parking spaces in front of a small building and closed his eyes momentarily. They'd only had a few hours to go over details before having to go, they still didn't have the autopsy results, and he was having some serious doubts about the operation. They weren't even sure how long they would have to stay.

He opened his eyes and looked over at the Captain when her hand squeezed his forearm softly. "Andy, everything is going to be fine. Since we're supposed to have a troubled marriage, things shouldn't get _too_ awkward."

He tried to smile, he really did. "Cap-..Sharon, it's not you, it's me. I'm a terrible actor and-"

He was cut off by a sharp knock on his window, and he tried not to show how much it had startled him as he rolled the window down to reveal an older man in his 60s with teeth so white they glowed.

"Hellllooooo, you must be the Blakes! I'm Tom, the director of "Happy Campers". He reached in the car to shake their hands, almost punching Andy in the face, then pulled back and grinned widely again.

Andy already didn't like the guy. He was way too happy.

"Why don't you two get your luggage and meet me in the office. We just have a few rules to go over, then we can get to fixin' your marriage!"

Andy looked over at the Captain as he rolled the window back up and about rolled his eyes out of their sockets. He was already annoyed and they'd only been there for five minutes.

She laughed and turned to open her door. "Come on, Andy, you only have to tolerate him for a little while...I hope", she added on.

"Yeah...the "I hope" is what I'm worried about." She didn't answer as she closed her door, and he took a deep breath and rolled up his shirtsleeves before stepping out himself.

He could do this.

He could.

Right?

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Thank you so much for reading, and I'd love to get some feedback about anything and everything. Tune in for undercover marriage fun next chapter. ;)


	2. Chapter 2

They took a seat in the only two chairs inside of the small, stuffy building and waited for _Tom_ to come in and smile his face off at them. Andy could already see himself punching the guy by the time this whole thing was over.

He heard Sharon clear her throat, but before he could say anything, Tom walked in with his arms spread wide and his teeth shining in the dim light of the building. Andy just barely suppressed the urge to gag and slouched down in his chair as far as possible so he didn't have to look at him.

"Alrighty, folks! So..." he looked down at the file in front of him, then looked up at Andy, "you must be Raymond", at Andy's reluctant nod, he turned to Sharon and smiled even more widely, "and this lovely lady must be Ann." Sharon nodded with a polite smile as Tom continued talking, not letting either one of them get a word in edge wise.

"I'm just going to explain a few things, then we'll get you settled in your room. First, just a little background info. We're the number one marriage camp in the western United States for five years running now. We've saved more marriages than all the other camps in the US combined and..."

While he continued to brag endlessly, Andy tuned him out to study the pictures on the wall behind his head. It seemed they were arrogant enough to put up a picture of all the marriages they had "saved". Although he would put down good money that a lot of them were either divorced, or headed that way.

"Ray...Ray...Raymond!" Andy blinked, forgetting that he was supposed to respond to that name, and turned to look at his "wife".

"What?" He saw that both of them were looking at him expectantly, although he had no idea what they wanted from him. He shrugged his shoulders and sat up in his chair. He should probably start paying better attention; especially since not paying attention is what had gotten him in this situation in the first place.

"Tom wants you to sign that paper in front of you so we can go to our rooooom." She had said that all in an annoyed sing song voice out of the corner of her mouth, and he suppressed the urge to smile. He was supposed to be an annoyed husband, not a the potential suitor he wished he could play instead.

"Oh, right." He pretended to be put out as he sat forward and signed his fake name with a flourish, then stood up quickly. "So, can we go to our room now?"

Tom eyed him a little warily as he smiled again and walked around his desk towards the side door. "Yes you can. Don't worry about your car, just grab your luggage and let me show you where you'll be staying, then you can come down to dinner at six and introduce yourselves to everyone else. I'm so excited!"

Flynn couldn't stop the "Oh, joy" that popped out of his mouth, but he doubted that Tom had actually heard him, seeing as he was too busy trying to get Sharon to take his arm so he could escort her outside.

Andy wanted to push the guy out of the way and claim his territory...but again, they were supposed to be estranged, and really, she wasn't actually his; so there wasn't much he could do.

Sharon glanced over her shoulder at him with "help me" written all over her face, but all he could do was shrug and adjust all their bags in his arms. Her suitcase alone felt like she was packing rocks instead of clothes as he trudged slowly after them, cursing Tom for making a move on Sharon, and his supposed "friends" back at LAPD for volunteering him for this.

XXX

As soon as they'd finally convinced Tom that they were OK to unpack themselves and find their own way to dinner, Andy flopped himself onto the only bed in the small casita and rubbed his hands over his face. Sharon sat down on the edge of the mattress a few feet away from him and patted his thigh right above his knee. "Andy, I think you need to act a _little_ bit more husband-like if we're going to convince anyone that we're married."

He moved his head up to look at her and sighed. "I know, I'm sorry. I let Tom get to me, but I'm not sure exactly how I'm supposed to act; especially since we're "estranged" and not on good terms." He let his head fall back onto the mattress as he waited for her to reply. Trying NOT to think about how there was only one bed, and not a couch in sight.

When she didn't reply, he turned his head to look at her, and saw that she looked worried.

"Cap-dammit-Sharon, what's wrong?"

She glanced over at him, then stood up to start unpacking her suitcase. With her back to him, she said, "A lot of things, Andy, but I'm mainly worried about Rusty. I know he'll be staying with Lieutenant Provenza, but I don't like being away from him for long; and we don't even know how long we'll be here." She put some undergarments in a drawer quickly and closed it before turning back around to see Andy sitting up on the bed.

He gave her a half smile, one that made her insides do a little flip-flop, and said, "I think the kid is in good hands. No offense, teenagers like it when their parents leave. He'll be fine."

She knew he was right, but she still didn't like being away from him. There was no use in worrying about it though, because she needed to focus on this operation. The sooner they caught the killer, the sooner they could go home. That was motivation enough.

He slapped his thighs and stood up to unpack his own suitcase. Their little casita was small; with only one bed, one bathroom with a shower, one dresser, and a closet. It felt like college all over again to Andy, except this time he had a "wife" to share the small space with, and no TV to buffer the situation. He had a feeling things were going to be a little bit awkward; especially at night.

He was interrupted by Sharon clearing her throat uncomfortably. When he looked at her, she said, "I'm..uh..going to take a shower before we go down to dinner." He watched her grab her shower kit and some clothes, then hurry to the bathroom and shut the door with a quiet 'snick'.

He sighed once more, then grabbed himself a pair of dark blue jeans and a light blue polo to change into.

XXX

As they made their way down to dinner, her dressed in a silky, pink shirt with black slacks, they discussed how they were going to act and made sure to get their background information straight. By the time they were at the door, they both were a little more relaxed and confident about what they were going to do.

He opened the door and let her precede him like usual; she stiffened a little when his hand found the small of her back as they walked into the plain, nondescript hall with tables and chairs lining either side. He made a scratching motion with his fingers to get her moving, then plastered an ornery look on his face as they searched for a seat. The noise had died down a little when they walked in, but as soon as people got over their curiosity, they picked their conversations back up with barely a glance in their direction.

Andy breathed a quiet sigh of relief, then guided Sharon over to an empty section and sat down in his own seat. He really wanted to pull her chair out for her, but to play his part, he ignored his urge to help.

As soon as they were both seated, Tom stood up to welcome everyone to dinner, then he gestured over to Andy and Sharon and beamed. "I'd like to introduce the new couple, who I'm sure you've all noticed by now." He motioned for them to stand up, which they did with reluctance, then said, "This is Raymond and Ann Blake. They're from San Diego and have been married for a little over 12 years. Let's all try to make them feel welcome please."

Andy waved a little, rolling his eyes internally, then sat back down and folded his arms across his chest. The Captain was a little more graceful as she smiled at everyone before sitting down herself.

After Tom finished his welcome, everyone stood up to go to the buffet lined up against the back wall while Sharon leaned in close, her lips brushing his ear as she said, "You play the grouchy, old man pretty well, Lieutenant. Although I can see right through your act."

He looked at her incredulously as she grinned and stood up to get some food for herself, squeezing his shoulder as she passed him. Their roles were simple. He was supposed to be surly and closed off, while she was supposed to be loving and warm. So far it didn't seem to be much different than how they were in real life; although he would be much more of a gentleman if they were themselves.

Just as he was about to stand up himself, a slightly overweight, balding man dressed in a Hawaiian shirt sat across from him with a smile on his face. He spoke before Andy could pretend he didn't see him. "Hi, Raymond. I'm Jake." He stuck his hand out for Andy to shake, but Flynn just rose an eyebrow and nodded his head in acknowledgment. Jake's smile dimmed a little as he lowered his hand, but he didn't seem too put out by Andy's attitude. Damn.

As Jake picked up his fork to begin eating, Andy said, "You can call me Ray. I hate Raymond."

Jake nodded, "Well nice to meet you, Ray."

Andy looked over to see Sharon advancing in line and sat back in his chair again. "So..uh..Jake, how long have you been here at this...camp?"

Jake finished chewing the food in his mouth and smiled again. "Well Janice and I arrived about a week ago, and we're planning on leaving in a few days. This place has done wonders for our marriage." Just as he finished his sentence, a pretty, brown-haired woman sat down next to him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. She smiled widely at Andy as she introduced herself, then picked up her fork and began eating.

Once again feeling like something was off, he made a mental note to mention to Sharon how unusual it was that everyone was so _happy._ Everywhere he looked, there were smiles. In fact, he was wearing the only frown in the room. Just. Odd.

He watched Sharon make her way over to him with two plates of food and tried not to show how much her thoughtfulness pleased him. He was beginning to get a clear picture of how it would be to actually be married to her; and it was something he wasn't going to dwell on in a room full of strangers, because he might start _smiling._

She put a plate in front of him and set some silverware next to it before sitting down herself. He grunted a thank you, internally cringing at how rude he was coming off, then began eating; not even introducing her to the couple across from them.

He listened to them introduce themselves to Sharon, then make inconsequential small-talk while they finished eating, but his ears perked up when he heard them mention the Cooleys and paid even closer attention as Sharon directed the conversation that way. "So who are the Cooleys? Are they still here?"

Andy looked up to see Jake shake his head with a worried look on his face. "We did all the group activities with them, so we're..uh..a little worried. They didn't even say goodbye."

Sharon nodded in sympathy. He could tell she wanted to ask more, but she couldn't push too hard and seem like she was interrogating them. Instead, she reached across and patted Janice's hand, her shiny, new wedding ring glinting in the low light. "I..I'm sure they'll give you a call as soon as they get home. Maybe he surprised her with a trip or something."

Janice didn't look reassured, but before Sharon could say anything else, Tom stood back up and the hall went silent. "That was a mighty fine dinner! Please be sure to drop your plates in the bins on your way out. Makes clean up lots easier." His voice was so annoying, but Andy tried his best to endure it as Tom continued, "Remember, there's a bonfire/group therapy tonight at nine. I look forward to seeing y'all there!"

Andy yawned behind his hand and looked over at Sharon. She looked as tired as he felt, but they really needed to go to the stupid group therapy if they were going to continue their charade and find out more information about the camp and the Cooleys.

Feeling his eyes on her, she looked at him and reached over to discreetly squeeze his fingers that were laying on his thigh. He caught them and squeezed lightly before she could draw them back, then let go as everyone stood up to go back to their casitas to relax and get ready for the bonfire.

Jake and Janice waved goodbye to them as they slowly made their way back towards the exit. Sharon hooked her hand at the crook of his elbow, and his tall frame made it easy to guide her through the throng of people who were simultaneously welcoming them and walking out of the building.

He tried not to show how happy just her touch made him, so he thought about Provenza and all the annoying things he'd done to him over the years; that soured his mood as quickly as anything, and the scowl on his face was genuine by the time they left the building and made their way back to their casita.

As soon as nobody was around, Sharon tugged on his arm for him to stop. He turned to her, but before he could say anything, she wrapped her arms around his middle and hugged him tightly. He automatically hugged her back, not even caring why she was doing this publicly; she obviously had a reason.

She turned her head to speak into his ear while running her fingers lightly up and down his sides, her lips once again brushing the shell of his ear. "There's someone watching us closely about twenty feet to your left. I just didn't want you to say anything that would give us away. Kiss my temple, then release me and I'll thread my arm back through yours and we'll continue walking back."

He nodded, holding on to her a little longer than necessary, then turned his face to kiss her temple; simultaneously resisting the urge to not look in the direction of the person watching them, and pulling her even closer to him and kissing her senseless.

Able to tamp down both desires, he released her with reluctance and tucked her hand a little closer to his side as they continued walking.

Now that he was aware that someone was watching, he felt tense and on edge. He also felt like he needed to protect her, which was an instinct that he needed to tamp down quickly. She didn't need his protection, just his support.

They made it back to their casita within minutes, and he turned and locked the deadbolt as she kicked off her shoes and sat down on the edge of the mattress.

She looked worried again, but this time it was for an entirely different reason than before.

Andy had a feeling this "camp" had everything to do with the murder of the Cooleys.

XXX

A man watched as the couple embraced, then as the tall man kissed the woman's temple. His blood boiled with jealousy. The tall man had treated her like shit during the entire meal, how could she just let him do that then hug him like nothing had happened?

He was going to do something about it. Soon.

* * *

Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you think. :)


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as Andy kicked his own shoes off and made his way over to Sharon, she stood up off the bed and pulled her phone out of her pocket. "I'm going to call Chief Taylor and let him know that we're in place and that there's most definitely something odd going on here." Andy nodded and watched as she walked to the corner of the room. There wasn't a place for privacy besides the bathroom and he could tell it made her restless.

As she talked to the Chief, he looked at his watch and sighed when he saw that they had more than an hour to kill before they went to "group therapy". He hoped that that wasn't their code for something nefarious, like drugs, and decided neither he nor Sharon should eat or drink anything at the bonfire.

He laid down on the bed and yawned widely while listening to her side of the conversation. Her soft voice eventually lulled him into a light sleep, and he was only awakened by a hand lightly squeezing his shoulder. "Andy, it's time for us to get going." He groaned and tried to roll over, but the hand pushed down a little harder. "Come on, Andy, we need to be down there in less than ten minutes."

He opened his eyes to little slits and saw that she had an amused smile on her face. He brought his left hand up to check his watch, then opened his eyes the rest of the way in surprise. He'd been asleep for an entire hour. As he sat up, her hand fell off his shoulder to her side, and he looked up at her apologetically. "I'm sorry Sharon, I didn't mean to fall asleep."

She smiled again and stepped away from him to put her shoes back on. "It's not a big deal. I just talked to Rusty and Provenza, then checked some e-mails." He nodded, still not completely awake enough to ask her any more questions, and stood up stiffly to put his own shoes back on. The bed wasn't very comfortable, and he wasn't exactly a spring chicken.

She stood waiting by the door as he put his coat on, then stopped him with a hand on his arm as he tried to open the door. "Wait, your hair..." She trailed off and reached up to smooth the back where he'd slept on it. Her fingers lingered at the nape before a small sigh escaped her lips. She dropped her hand and quickly turned to open the door and walk out.

Andy still felt half asleep and didn't even want to guess what that was all about. He could analyze it later when she wasn't looking over her shoulder for him to follow. He quickly caught up to her and walked beside her down the dirt path. It was already chilly, and both of them only had thin coats; she moved closer to him and wrapped her arm around his waist under his coat. He didn't know if she was playing her part as his wife, if she genuinely wanted to be close to him, or she was cold, but he didn't care. It wasn't worth over-analyzing, and he would just drive himself crazy anyway.

He put his own arm around her shoulders and leaned closer so that no one could overhear and told her about how he'd noticed the odd way everyone smiled, and that he didn't think they should eat or drink anything in these therapy sessions. They were interrupted by a man bumping roughly into Andy as he passed them, knocking him into Sharon, and he saw that the shorter man was glaring fiercely at him in the waning sunlight. The mousy woman he was dragging behind him never once looked up from the ground. Andy scowled in anger, but before he could say anything to them, they were already well past them.

Sharon squeezed his side lightly to discourage him from yelling anything (she knew him too well). "That was odd." She hummed in agreement. "It was. I think we need to be very careful here, Andy." He nodded as he adjusted his arm around her shoulders. "Was that the man who was staring at us earlier?" She shook her head. "I can't be sure, but I don't think it was. His build is different than the first man."

Andy rolled his eyes in annoyance. It wasn't going to be easy to catch the dirtbag if there were multiple dirtbags.

As they approached the meeting area, he dropped his arm and put some space between them. She seemed somewhat reluctant to let him go, which surprised him a little, but dropped her own arm and stuffed her hands inside her coat pockets as they came into view of the entire camp.

Once again they were the last to arrive.

They found a log to sit on as the couples closest to the fire watched them with smiles on their faces. He couldn't see the man who had bumped into them, but it was almost dark and he couldn't see much outside the firelight.

Once they were settled, another man that they hadn't met stood up with outspread arms and (surprise,surprise) a wide smile. "Welcome everyone! I know it's a little cold out here tonight, so just snuggle closer to your significant other and get warm so we can concentrate on our discussion."

Andy slumped down and put his chin in his hand. He really didn't want to listen, and he honestly really didn't need the advice. It wasn't like he was married or involved with anyone. He glanced at Sharon from the corner of his eye and saw that although she seemed to be listening, she seemed just as bored as he did. He saw that look quite often in her office when she was talking to lawyers.

Someone from his other side tapped on his shoulder. He sat up to see a woman holding out a bowl to him full of wrapped treats. He rose an eyebrow in question, but she just smiled and tried to hand it to him. He took it from her, then tried to study the contents in the low light. He honestly couldn't tell what they were, but he took one and stuffed it into his pocket so they could send it into the lab for testing. He handed the bowl to Sharon with a significant look, and watched as she passed it on to the person next to her without taking one.

The man in front of them droned on and on, and it seemed to get colder and colder. Sharon had, at some point, threaded her arm through his and buried her face in his shoulder. He could feel her shivering, and looked at his watch again. They'd been sitting in front of this stupid fire for well over an hour, and no one else had seemed to notice how cold it was, or how boring the discussion was.

He'd tried to listen for a little bit, but when they had started talking about intimacy in the bedroom, he had tuned back out. This whole thing was already awkward enough, he didn't need to think about sex with Sharon hanging onto his arm and breathing into his neck. By the time the counselor wrapped up the discussion, he was shivering himself; Sharon had never stopped shivering and seemed miserable. He wished he could give her his coat, but he had to play his part.

"...and have a good night everyone! Be safe on your walk back."

Andy watched as everyone around him stood up and began chatting with their neighbors as they started walking back to their casitas. No one seemed to give them a second glance as he and Sharon stayed sitting until everyone else was gone. Flynn stood up, then reached down and helped Sharon stand up on stiff legs. He smiled at her a little. "Are you going to be OK to walk, or do I need to carry you?"

With chattering teeth, she glared at him. "I-I-I'm ffffiine." He looked at her skeptically and took her arm to begin leading her away from the fire. They were stopped by the counselor who had lead the meeting. Andy hadn't seen him standing there.

"I noticed you didn't participate in the discussion tonight."

Andy shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't feel like talking."

The counselor stepped further into the light of the fire with a serious look on his face. "You guys won't improve your marriage if you're not willing to work on it."

Andy held up a hand. "Look buddy, I-"

Sharon stopped him with a hand on his arm, "Thank you, Counselor Myers. Ray and I are just trying to get acclimated. We'll try to participate more tomorrow." Apparently being closer to the fire had warmed her up a little. Myers seemed placated and gave her a completely out of place creepy smile. "Well then I look forward to talking with you tomorrow."

Sharon tried to smile but it came out more like a grimace as she said, "Oh..um..thanks. Have a good night now."

She grabbed Andy's hand and pulled him away before he could say something else, then threaded her arm through his and practically dragged him up the pathway. Once again he felt like they were being watched; the hairs on the back of his neck were standing straight up.

He'd learned a long time ago to trust his instincts, and they were telling him that they were in danger.

They reached their casita in record time without incident, and he quickly locked the door behind them and leaned against it. She was pacing in front of him with her hands on her hips. "Andy, I'm not sure we should stay here." He pushed himself off the door and approached her. "You felt it too, huh?" She stopped and looked at him. "I'm pretty sure someone was following us the all way back, and I felt like someone was watching us the entire time we sat in front of the fire."

He rose his eyebrows in surprise. "I didn't notice anything by the fire."

Sharon stepped a little closer and lowered her voice as she said, "Someone was definitely watching us. I tried looking around without drawing attention, but it was too dark." He sighed and slipped his coat off. "I think we should poke around a little bit longer before we decide to call in the cavalry."

She took her own coat off and threw it on the dresser. He could tell she was thinking over their options. After a minute or so, she nodded her head. "You're right. We both have our guns and our cell phones so we should be OK, but we need to be extra careful. No going off alone or doing something stupid."

He knew that last comment was directed at him, but he suppressed his smile as he said, "Fine, fine. Now can we please go to bed? I'm beat." An entirely different nervous look passed over her face before she turned around to dig some pajamas out of the realized how that must have sounded and ran a nervous hand through his hair. "Look, Sharon. I can sleep on the floor. It's really not a big deal."

She turned back around with clothes in her arms and gave him a small smile. "As much as I appreciate the gesture, we're both adults. I think we can handle sleeping in the same bed. Besides, you would probably never walk normally again." Andy chuckled a little and said, "Right. Do you want to change first or should I?"

She held up her clothes and shrugged her shoulders. He smiled and motioned for her to go, then watched as she closed the door behind her.

He rubbed the back of his neck tiredly and took some black pajama pants out of his drawer in the dresser. He quickly changed into them, then slipped his blue polo shirt off, leaving him in a white undershirt. Before he could talk himself out of it, he walked to the left side of the bed (closest to the door) and slipped under the covers. He was so tired that the mattress actually felt comfortable. He had planned to stay awake long enough for Sharon to get settled in bed, but he heard the shower turn on and his eyes were already slipping closed on their own accord.

He fell asleep to the sound of running water.

XXX

The first thing Andy realized when he woke up the next morning was that there was a warm body pressed up against his back and an arm around his middle. The second thing he realized was that he had to pee so badly that he wasn't sure he was going to make it to the toilet in time; and he still had to untangle himself from Sharon.

Not that he minded all that much, he just didn't want to pee all over the floor.

Her hand had found its way under his t-shirt to rest right above the waistband of his pants and one of her feet had wormed its way between his calves. He knew she would be mortified if she woke up to find herself in this position, so he tried to slip away without jostling her too much. He scooted so far forward that he fell onto the ground with a quiet "oof", he ignored the pain in his knees and back and peeked over the top of the mattress to see that he hadn't woken her.

Score one for him.

He stood up with a quiet groan and hurriedly did his business in the bathroom; barely making it in time. Andy checked his watch as he walked back into the room and saw that breakfast was in less than an hour. All he really wanted to do was go back to bed and snuggle with Sharon. Although, she probably wouldn't appreciate him doing so.

Deciding he would take a shower instead, he gathered the things he needed and made his way back into the bathroom. Trying NOT to think about how adorable she looked with her hair tousled on her pillow and her face relaxed in sleep. Twenty minutes later he walked out to find her already ready to go. She smiled at him, oblivious to everything that had happened in the last hour. He was glad for it, if he was honest with himself; he didn't want her to act awkward around him.

He smiled back at her and said, "Ready?" She nodded. "Do you have your gun, Andy?"

He shook his head as he looked down at his clothes. There wasn't anywhere for him to put it.

"It's OK, I put mine in my purse. Make sure you have your cellphone though." He patted his front pocket to reassure her, then followed after her as she made her way to the door.

As they walked down the path to breakfast, their hands occasionally brushing, she asked, "how did you sleep?" He cleared his throat, trying not to look at her so he wouldn't give himself away. "Oh, fine. I didn't wake up once until this morning. Usually I'm an insomniac, so it was nice for a change. You?"

She hummed. "Wonderful." He almost said something to tease her, but decided against it as they reached the dining hall. She preceded him inside and smiled as he leaned close to her ear and said, "good" as she passed by him.

The hall was almost silent as they walked in; for once _no one_ was smiling. Confused, they quickly sat down and waited to see what was going on. Tom stood up solemnly and said sadly, "Jake and Janice Kyle have gone."

Andy's heart fell.

What did he mean by "gone"? And why was everyone so upset about it?

* * *

Thanks so much for all the great reviews. Sorry it took so long for me to get this out, but with kids and a job, I feel like I never have time to write. Thank you for reading and please let me know what you think. :)


	4. Chapter 4

Tom continued on with his announcements as if he hadn't said anything out of the ordinary, and Andy turned to Sharon with a questioning look. Leaning over to speak in her ear, he said, "What do you think he means by gone?"

Sharon shook her head in confusion. "I'm not sure, but it can't be good if everyone looks so solemn." She pulled her phone out of her purse and continued in a quiet voice, "I'm going to text Mike and have him do a welfare check on them. If they haven't returned home..." She trailed off as she began texting her message under the table

She didn't get far until someone snatched her phone out of her hand without warning. "Hey what-"

Andy looked up to see Tom with a chastising smile on his face. "I'm sorry Ann, cell phones are strictly forbidden here." He looked at Andy with raised eyebrows and an outstretched hand. "I'm gonna need yours too, Raymond."

Andy opened his mouth to protest, but Tom cut him off. "It was in all the paperwork ya signed yesterday. No cell phones, nothing electronic. We want y'all to be able to concentrate on your marriage."

Andy rolled his eyes, but reluctantly pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Tom. He felt like he was losing his only lifeline to the outside world, which in this case, was not a good thing. Tom smiled again in thanks and tapped the phone against his palm. "Y'all will get this back before ya leave, don't you worry."

As he walked away, Andy glared at his back; he _really_ didn't like the asshole. He looked over at Sharon to complain, but saw that she looked just as concerned. She leaned over with a hand on his upper thigh. "This isn't good."

He swallowed loudly and tried not to look down at her hand, which was currently a little too close to certain parts for comfort. He took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on their situation, which was in a worse place than her hand. "No, it's not. That little idiot is going to be the death of us. Literally."

She smiled faintly and finally released his thigh to rub her eye with her fingers. "I don't see how we can leave without raising even more suspicion, unfortunately. Or risking more lives."

He nodded in agreement as everyone around them stood up to begin getting their breakfasts. People seemed to be over the "sad" news and were once again smiling and laughing. He stood up and put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from standing. "I'll get the food this time."

As he stood in line, the man in front of him turned around and smiled. "Hi, I'm Rick."

Andy nodded in greeting. "I'm Ray."

When Andy didn't say anything else, Rick started to ask a question; Andy cut him off, hoping to maybe get some more information on the Kyles and their mysterious disappearance. "So did you know the Kyles at all?" Rick looked a little taken aback by Andy's abruptness, but seemed to take it in stride. "I talked with them a few times. Nice folks."

Andy leaned a little closer, the picture of calm and casual with his hands stuffed in his pockets, "So where did they go exactly? Home?" Rick's eyes darted nervously to where Tom was talking to another couple, then he avoided looking at Andy as he shrugged. "I..I don't..I guess." They moved a few steps forward in line as Rick turned his back on Andy, and didn't turn back around one time as they moved through the buffet line.

The Kyles definitely didn't just leave on their own.

Andy returned to the table and set Sharon's plate down in front of her. She smiled up at him in thanks and squeezed his arm lightly as he sat next to her. He spoke to her in a low voice, "The Kyles disappearance is not just a simple case of them deciding it was time to go home." She nodded and smiled at the couple across from them, who were staring at them oddly. "I agree," she said out of the corner of her mouth.

After they finished their meal, they returned to the casita to get ready for some kind of water activity that Tom had enthusiastically tried to sell to the group. As they walked into their apartment, they could immediately tell that someone had been inside and had gone through their personal things. Andy went over to where he had hidden his gun and found it missing.

He turned to Sharon with raised eyebrows and a scowl on his face. "Well this is just great. Not only did that moron take my phone, now they have my gun too. Fantastic." She looked at him helplessly and searched through her own belongings to see if they had taken anything of hers. Nothing seemed to be missing.

"I still have mine," she mumbled as she looked through a section of her suitcase that she had left unpacked.

"Still think we need to keep our cover?" He leaned against the dresser with his arms crossed. Agitation radiating off of him in waves. She nodded, a little bit annoyed with the situation and with the man standing next to her. "Andy, I'm not sure if we have enough for a search warrant. So far they've only taken our phones and your gun. We don't have any concrete evidence, and as far as we know, the murderer of the Cooleys found those towels and decided to wrap them up in it. We. Have. Nothing."

Andy held up his hands in surrender and said brusquely, "Alright, alright. I get it. We'll keep going until you say otherwise."

He turned around and opened the dresser to find his swim trunks without another word. Every movement showcasing his annoyance.

"Andy," Sharon sighed, realizing too late that she had been a little short with him. He tended to get combative rather easily sometimes. "Don't worry about it, Captain. I get it. I'm going to go get changed, excuse me." He walked into the bathroom and closed the door softly without looking her way once.

She sighed again and dug her own swimming suit out of the dresser. She was back to "Captain" and he was back to his impatient ways.

Lord, give her patience.

XXX

They walked together in silence down to the field where they were holding the water games. He wore a pair of black and white striped board shorts with a white T-shirt and she wore her light blue one-piece swimsuit with a yellow sarong from Hawaii around her waist.

Neither one of them wanted to be the one to give in first and apologize, so they ignored each other like a couple of teenagers during their first lovers spat. Andy was no longer angry at the Captain. She was just doing her job, and she did it well. He needed to trust that she knew what she was doing and put his pride to the side; but he was too damn stubborn.

He wanted to tell her that she looked absolutely beautiful.

And he would. Eventually.

They reached the field and stood in the back of the group as Tom, dressed in loud, vibrant colors with a line of sunscreen over the bridge of his nose, began explaining what they were going to be doing. Each couple was going to be working as partners in various water games to build trust and communication between them.

Andy was going to have to apologize to Sharon sooner rather than later so they could do these games without drawing more attention to them.

With a resigned look on his face, he turned to look at her and ran his hand lightly down her back to get her attention, her skin was soft and warmed by the sun. She turned to look at him expectantly as he cleared his throat, "I..uh..look, I'm sorry. You know how I get when I'm frustrated. Not that that's an excuse, but well.." he trailed off and shrugged his shoulders, leaving his hand on her lower back so she would keep looking at him.

She nodded and stepped closer to him, his hand moving from her back to side with the movement. "I know, Andy. I'm sorry for being short with you as well." He smiled widely, suddenly feeling a lot better about everything, and without thinking hugged her close to his side and kissed her temple. When he released her she looked a little surprised by his forwardness, but not angry or annoyed.

They stared at each other for longer than necessary, there was something in Sharon's eyes that Andy couldn't quite figure out. It looked like love and affection, which confused him because he thought she only saw him as a friend.

He wanted to ask what she was thinking and really wished she would actually tell him.

He knew she wouldn't.

Their stare was eventually interrupted by Tom yelling for all the couples to move into four groups with even numbers. They quickly averted their eyes awkwardly, and Andy released her so she could move away from him. He immediately missed her warmth.

Sharon led them to a group with ten other people and nodded to everyone as they waited for Tom to announce what they were going to be doing. Andy was sure it was going to be something stupid. After what seemed like forever just standing around, Tom came over and handed them each a beach towel. "I'm sure y'all have played this game before, but it's a good way to work on yer communication." He turned and pointed to the volleyball nets set up behind him.

"It will be six versus six, with three of the couples on one side and three on the other. We're using larger than normal water balloons, so that makes it a teensy bit harder." Andy rolled his eyes at his ridiculous accent as Tom continued explaining, "The rule is that each couple has to catch the water balloon in yer towel before it can go over the net. The team who drops the balloon loses. Simple enough, right?" As most of the members nodded, he smiled widely. "Good, good. Y'all have fun now. And communicate! That's the whole point of this!"

The teams divided quickly as Sharon handed him their towel then led him over to their side of the net. He unfolded it and handed her a side; he had a feeling this wasn't going to go well. A team on the other side of the net grabbed a softball sized water balloon out of a garbage can, put it in their own towel and hauled it into another team's towel. That team passed it to another team, who did the same with the last team. Now it was their turn to launch it over the net.

As the balloon soared over the net and towards his head, all he could think about was that he _really_ wished he were somewhere else.

"Ray! Move!" He snapped out of his trance just in time to try to move the towel to catch it, but it was too late.

 _Splash_

The balloon him him square in the face, which in turn soaked him and Sharon. He never realized how much it would hurt getting hit in the face with a stupid water balloon. Now he knew.

As he laid on the ground holding his nose and groaning, Sharon's face came into view.

"Kill me..now," Andy whined.

She patted his chest softly and tried not to smile. "Is your nose broken?"

He moved it a little bit with his fingers. That _hurt._ "If it is, does that mean we can go back to our casita and not have to play stupid "communication" games anymore?" She laughed this time and reached down a hand to help him up. He took it and stood up on slightly unsteady legs. She wrapped her arm around his waist and led him towards the medic, who was standing with Tom with their backs turned.

She sat Andy down in a chair in the shade and called the medic who walked over with an amused smile on his face. "There's always one." Andy glared at him as the he leaned down to look at his nose, then prod the sides of it. "Hey..ow..stop that!"

The medic straightened and looked at Sharon. "Well, it's not broken, but he should probably go lay down for the rest of the afternoon anyway. Don't want to take any chances and all that." Andy laid his head back on the headrest of the chair and groaned. His head was pounding.

"Hey doc, you got any Ibuprofen or Tylenol?" He moved his head up in time to see the medic hand Sharon a couple of white packages, then pat on her on the shoulder sympathetically and walk away. "Why is he patting _you_ on the shoulder? You're not the one who was hurt," he whined again.

Sharon just shook her head, the amused look on her face had never quite left since he had been hit, and helped him back to his feet. "You'll be fine, Honey." He looked around in time to see that they were passing a couple of teams who were watching and listening to them with smiles on their faces. That's why she had called him Honey; but he liked it all the same.

As they walked, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, more to just pull her closer than for support. Of course he wouldn't tell her that.

They should have paid better attention to their surroundings. Should have made sure they weren't being followed. Should have been more diligent. Andy had been too distracted by being near Sharon and his pounding headache. Sharon had been too distracted by her worry for Andy.

When they were hit from behind and knocked down, Andy's last thought before he lost consciousness was how stupid he was for not being a better cop.

* * *

Dun dun dunnnn. Haha, just kidding. I'm sure they'll be fine. Probably. Thanks so much for reading and for the great reviews. Please let me know what you think!


	5. Chapter 5

The first thing Andy realized when he came to was that his head felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. The second thing was that his arm was pinned down by something warm and he couldn't move it more than a few inches. The third was that he was very obviously inside their casita laying on the bed.

He groaned and blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to get them and his brain to focus; everything was a little blurry around the edges. As he laid there, a moan came from the warm thing on his arm. He turned his head, trying to ignore the excruciating pain, and jerked when he realized that the "thing" was Sharon. She had her head on his arm facing away from him, and was apparently just as out of it as he was.

"Sharon." When she didn't answer or move, he tried to pull his arm out from under her, but something was holding it back from doing so. "Sharon," he said a little louder, wrapping his free arm around her waist and moving his body to jostle her. She groaned again; he wished he could see her face. "Andy?" Her voice was hoarse from disuse. Who knew how long they had been laying there. Although judging from the pressure in his bladder, it couldn't have been more than a few hours.

"It's me. Can you move?" She shifted a little, but then shook her head slightly. "Not much. Our hands are handcuffed to the bed post." So that was why he couldn't move his arm. He tried to look over her head at their hands, but he couldn't get enough leverage and eventually gave up. He was beginning to feel nauseous from the pain.

"Do you see anything on the bedside table? Like a note, or the keys?" He asked hopefully. Andy couldn't believe they were in this predicament, with no backup coming to rescue them this time. Maybe after they hadn't checked in with the team within twenty-four hours they would come looking.

He could only hope.

He watched her raise her head a little to look around. She nodded after a few seconds, her voice starting to lose the rough edges, "I see the keys," a hint of surprise entered her voice as she continued, "and an envelope." This was their lucky day. There had to be a catch though, no one was ever _that_ lucky.

"Can you reach them?" He was glad he could no longer feel his arm, although when the feeling returned, it was going to hurt like a bitch. She shook her head against his arm. "I can't move away from you, I think they tied our legs together."

Of course they did, because why not? He looked down the length of their bodies and could just make out the edge of a zip tie on her leg. Fantastic.

"We need to figure out a way to move our bodies together towards the edge of the bed so you can reach the keys. Are you hurt at all?" She shook her head. "As far as I can tell, no. My head hurts a little, although I imagine not as badly as yours does." There was concern in her voice, he tried not to let that distract him.

He smiled a little. "It doesn't matter right now. All that matters is getting those keys, getting out of here, and catching the assholes who did this to us." She took a deep breath, her back sinking into his chest. It took everything in him not to lean forward and smell her hair. He couldn't let his untimely feelings get in the way of their predicament. They were in danger and he need to tamp down his stupid, inconvenient male urges.

Sharon spoke before he could begin to dwell on the fact that her ass fit right in between his hips perfectly. He blamed it on his probable concussion. "On three we're going to move together towards the edge of the bed. Let's move our feet first, then the rest of our bodies after. Understand?" He took a deep breath and said between clenched teeth, "Let's get it over with." He had a feeling it was going to hurt. A lot.

"One, two, _three."_ Together they moved their feet, then their chests, then their feet, until they became pretty well synchronized and eventually made it to the edge without too much pain and suffering. Although his arm was beginning to get pins and needles with the new position. Damn.

"Can you reach the keys?" She nodded and her entire upper body left his arm as she reached forward and snagged the keys without too much trouble. It seemed the people who put them in this position weren't too concerned with trying to keep them there.

"Got them." She reached above their heads and quickly went to work on unlocking both of their cuffs. As soon as his was released, he slowly brought his arm down to hug it to his body. It was already stiff and painful. He really needed some Ibuprofen. She made quick work her own cuffs, then sat up and looked down at their legs. "These zip ties aren't very tight. I think I can just slip them off."

She leaned even further forward and slipped them off easily. As soon as she was free of his legs, she swung her own around and sat on the edge of the bed. He followed suit and sat next to her, although he was dizzy and thought he might need to lay down again. When he put his head in his hands, Sharon reached over and ran her hand down his back softly. "Are you OK?" He took a deep breath, but kept his head down. "Just a headache. I'll be fine." He didn't look up to see if she believed him, although he doubted he sounded very convincing.

Andy heard the rustling of paper and finally managed to look up without feeling like the room was spinning. He watched her unfold a single piece of paper and looked over her shoulder as she began to read it out loud:

 _We know you're cops. We know why you came to our camp. We have your cell phones and are communicating with your team as if it were you checking in with them, so you have no one to help you if you choose not to comply with our rules. Which are:_

 _Don't ask questions._

 _Be happy. Smile._

 _Don't cause problems._

 _Do what we tell you._

 _If you choose not to follow these simple rules, then we'll kill you; like we killed the Cooleys and the Kyles. As soon as you decide whether or not to comply, we'll be moving sites since you ruined our cover as a marriage camp. We would just kill you, but that would cause even more problems for us._

 _You have until midnight tonight to decide._

Andy almost laughed out loud at how absurd the note sounded. Did they really expect them to just go along silently and leave their lives behind? He wondered if they were some kind of religious or ideological cult, or if they were just all a bunch of really weird like-minded people who pretended to be normal for the sake of outward appearances.

He heard Sharon clear her throat. "What the hell?" That sounded more like him talking than her usual eloquent speech. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, his mouth going right up to her ear so he could speak quietly. "I'm sure they have the place bugged. What do you want to do?"

She turned her head, her lips brushing his stubbly cheek accidentally as her mouth moved to his ear. "Well I don't see any other option than to go along with it at the moment. We have no weapons, no way to contact our team, no transportation..." She sighed against his ear as she trailed off, her warm breath like a caress against the side of his face.

He closed his eyes. What a nightmare. The only positive was that he had her by his side. Together they would find a way to escape and take down the bastards, but right now they needed to do the smart thing and play along for as long as possible. He wondered how many other members were there unwillingly, or if they were the only ones to get caught up in the cult by accident. He hoped they _were_ the only ones so they didn't have to worry about rescuing anyone else. They would be watched closely for a little while, but the longer they complied with their stupid rules, the more trusting they would be.

He could play nice for a little while; at least he hoped he could for his and Sharon's sake.

Andy checked his watch and saw that they had about a half hour until they had to make their "decision". He rubbed his hand up and down Sharon's arm to get her attention, their bodies still close. She looked up at him with a worried expression in her green eyes; at least they hadn't taken her glasses from her.

He leaned in close again. "We have to go soon. Are you going to be OK?" She wrapped her own arm around his waist and pulled him even closer to her; he realized belatedly that they were still dressed in their swimming clothes and looked up to see that their other belongings had been left untouched.

A few moments passed before she nodded, anger boiling beneath the surface of her calm facade. "Yes, of course, and it's going to be a happy day when we can arrest them all for kidnapping and murder." He turned to look her in the face and felt comforted by her look of determination.

Sharon Raydor was a force to be reckoned with, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

XXX

Soon enough, they changed clothes and walked together down to the mess hall. He made sure to check his surroundings this time, lest someone hit him over the head again, and moved a little closer to Sharon as they neared the entrance to the mess hall.

He walked in before her to find that everyone was sitting there, in silence, waiting for them. They all turned as one towards the doors as Sharon and Andy walked through, all with smiles on their faces. So creepy. As they stood by the entrance, Tom stood up. "Andy..Sharon, welcome welcome. Sorry for the little inconvenience of tying y'all up.." When neither of them said anything, he continued, a smile still plastered on his face, "...have you come to a decision?"

Andy scoffed and opened his mouth to say something sarcastic, but Sharon squeezed his arm to stop him. He had to remember to play nice. At least for a little while. She spoke before he could get them in trouble. "I don't see that you've given us much choice, but I suppose I should thank you for not killing us."

Tom nodded. "Well ya see, we didn't want the entire LAPD out lookin' for us because we killed two of their own. Now it'll be days or weeks before they realize somethin' is wrong. And we'll all be long gone. Remember though, if y'all cause too many problems, we'll just kill ya anyway." His grin widened, as if he wasn't talking about murder.

When Sharon nodded, he clapped his hands together. "Alrighty then. We're all packed and ready to go. Ya just need ta get your stuff and we can be on our way. You have ten minutes." Andy never realized how creepy someone could be while smiling. It made him nauseous. Of course that could be because his head was still pounding to the rhythm of his heartbeat.

Sharon grabbed his hand and pulled him out the doors. From the way she held herself, he could tell she was really upset. Obviously. He was too, he just couldn't focus very well at the moment. They made good time back to the casita. He watched as she walked in the bathroom, then came out with an armful of stuff to pack back into her suitcase. Her movements were getting more and more jerky. He stepped closer and put a hand on her shoulder. "Sharon.." She stopped, but didn't turn around to look at him. He heard a sniffle as her hand moved up to swipe at her eyes.

He gently turned her and pulled her to his chest, running his hands up and down her back as she wrapped her arms around his waist and clung to him tightly. (He didn't care that they no longer had to pretend they were married) He kissed the side of her head and moved her hair away from her ear with his nose and whispered in her ear, "We're going to be fine. I can't make promises that I don't know if I can keep, but I'm confident that we'll make it through this. Together."

She grabbed two fistfuls of his shirt at his waist and nodded against his shoulder. They swayed together, their heads close and their bodies even closer. She was the strongest woman he knew, but even she was entitled to an occasional loss of control; especially under these circumstances. He wasn't surprised that she composed herself within a couple of minutes, and when she finally pulled away from him, she had that determined look from earlier back on her face.

He glanced at his watch and saw that they only had a couple of minutes left before those creepers came looking for them. He quickly moved away from Sharon and gathered his things before stuffing it all in his suitcase; not bothering to fold or organize anything.

With a minute to spare, he zipped up his luggage, grabbed Sharon's from her hand (she glared at him, but didn't try to take it back) and let her precede him out the door. They reached the rest of group as quickly as possible, most not looking very happy that they had been made to wait; although they still had those damned smiles on their faces. He scanned all forty plus members in front of him for anyone who looked vulnerable or scared; someone they might make an ally with, but he saw no one. At least no one who was giving themselves away.

Tom stepped forward with two hoods in his hands and and handed them over as took their luggage from Andy. "Put these on. We can't have ya seein' where we're goin'." Andy rolled his eyes, but followed Sharon's example and quickly slid it on. He couldn't see anything. At all.

He felt Sharon's arm thread through his, and he pulled her even closer to his body. They waited for a few moments until Tom spoke again, amusement in his voice, "My, my. Y'all are pretty touchy-feely for just bein' colleagues and all." When Andy didn't rise to the bait, someone grabbed his free arm roughly and led them over to one of their eighteen passenger vans. At least he hoped that was where they were going.

Once they were seated, he heard others enter the van. When someone sat next to them, he freed his arm from Sharon's tight grasp and wrapped the same arm around her shoulders. Someone snickered behind him. "You wanna shut the hell up?" Andy growled, fed up with their shitty situation. He imagined they were all smiling and silently laughing, but as long as he couldn't hear or see it, he didn't care.

Soon enough, someone entered the driver's side door and the van started. His headache was not as painful as earlier, and he hoped the car ride wouldn't make him sick to his stomach all over again. That's all he needed to do was throw up inside his hood.

No one said a word for more than fifteen or twenty minutes by his estimation. When someone finally did, he was glad it wasn't Tom. "Are we up for some songs?" The voice came from the back of the van. When everyone around them began singing some creepy hymn that he'd never heard before, he laid his head against Sharon's and tried to tune them out.

She sighed quietly and laid a hand on his thigh, their bodies swaying with the movement of the van. As he closed his eyes trying to ignore the constant ache in his head, his only thought was how happy he was that he wasn't doing this alone.

* * *

At least they're not dead, right? ;) Thank you for all the awesome reviews from the last chapter. Reviews are gold. Please let me know what you think! :)


	6. Chapter 6

Provenza glared at his phone as he pulled it out of his pocket for about the tenth time that night. Flynn kept texting him random, completely unneeded updates, and it was getting to the point where he was seriously thinking about turning his phone off. This time the message only said "driving", as if he was purposely sending cryptic texts just to annoy him. Which he wouldn't put past Flynn at all. Idiot.

Sighing, he put the phone back down on his desk instead of his pocket and picked up his pen to finish his report. Just as he formed the letter "A", his phone chimed once again.

"Son of a bitch", he mumbled as he pressed the little mail icon once again. All it said this time was, "Bye". Furrowing his eyebrows, he scrolled up through the previous messages to re-read them and realized that it didn't sound like Flynn playing games with him. In fact, it didn't sound like Andy at all. He pushed away from his desk and walked over to Tao who was finishing up his own paperwork.

"Tao, would you take a look at this? Andy's been sending me cryptic, one word texts for about an hour now. It's just...odd."

Mike nodded and took the phone from him, then scrolled up to read them himself. Tao looked up at him in mild annoyance, "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

Provenza shrugged and rolled his eyes. "I just thought Andy was screwing with me. I was distracted by other things."

"Imagine that," Tao said under his breath. Provenza just rolled his eyes again and ignored him.

"Soo, can you run the GPS thingy and see if they're still at that camp?"

Mike nodded and began to pull up screens that Provenza couldn't make heads or tails of. After a few moments of heavy silence, Tao looked up at him without concern. "Both the Lieutenants and the Captain's phones show that they're at the camp. I've been getting updates from Captain Raydor regularly. Though not as regularly as you."

Provenza waved his hand in a circular motion. "Annnnd do your messages sound like the Captain?"

Mike nodded. "More or less. Maybe they aren't as wordy as normal, but that's understandable under the circumstances."

Provenza sighed. This entire case hadn't been sitting right with him since the beginning, and now it felt even more "off". He'd learned over the years to trust his gut, and it was telling him something was definitely wrong. "I'm going to have an officer drive by the camp and see if they see anything out of the ordinary." Not waiting for Mike to respond, he picked his phone back up from Tao's desk and quickly ordered a police car to drive by and report back ASAP.

He had about a half hour to kill, and decided to text Andy's phone to see if he'd get a response. _Hey Flynn, how's it going with the Captain?_

Louis picked his pen back up and tried to concentrate on the rest of his paperwork while he waited for either Andy to respond or for the officer to report back. Twenty minutes in, he gave up all pretense of work and stood up to get himself another cup of coffee. He had a feeling he was going to need the caffeine.

He checked his phone after he sat down and saw that Andy still hadn't responded. Of course it was past midnight, but he doubted they would be asleep. He rolled his neck and shoulders and started to stretch his arms over his head when he phone began to vibrate.

He quickly picked it up. "Provenza"

"Lieutenant, this is Officer Young. I just did a drive by of the address you gave me, and there's nothing there, Sir. Are you sure you gave me the right address?"

Provenza waived Tao over as he said in exasperation, "Of course I did, and what the hell do you mean by "nothing there"?"

As Mike approached his desk, Provenza turned his speaker phone on as the Officer spoke in confusion. "Just what I said, Sir. There are buildings there, of course, but there was no electricity, no cars, no sign of life. I walked around and looked inside of the office, and there was nothing inside. It looked abandoned."

Provenza looked up at Mike with something akin to panic. "Son of a bitch."

XXX

They drove for hours and hours. So long that he was starving, and his legs were uncomfortably numb.

He and Sharon had remained mostly silent over the hours, just communicating through touch rather than talk. He could tell from her breathing that she was upset, and all he could do was squeeze her thigh and rub her back softly to try to calm her. She would occasionally reciprocate, but it was mostly him. He didn't mind; she deserved a break from being strong all the time.

The creeps were mostly silent as well, only talking about some religious crap that he didn't care to understand and singing their creeptastic songs. He heard the tell tale sign of food being passed around every few hours, but Sharon and Andy were never offered any. For all he knew they were cannibals, so he was fine not being given any when he couldn't see what he was putting in his mouth.

Finally, after what seemed to him to be about two straight days in the car (it was probably less than a day, he'd only felt the sun on the side of his face for a few hours) they stopped and sat there in silence. Sharon grabbed his hand and laced her fingers through his as they waited. He didn't like not being able to see, but he didn't dare do anything to provoke the psychos.

The door finally opened and Sharon was forcefully ripped away from him; she grunted, but didn't cry out. He was pulled out next, then pushed to the ground. He wanted to call them all sorts of names, but he needed to keep a rein on his temper. At least for a little while.

His hood was roughly taken off and all he could do was squeeze his eyes shut. It was so damn bright outside. He opened them a little at a time to let them adjust, and after a minute or two he could open them all the way. He sat back on his knees and looked around. Sharon was next to him doing the same.

All he could see for miles and miles were trees and grassy fields. Not a building, nor any sort of civilization in sight. Not even a power line. They definitely weren't in California anymore, and if he had to guess, they were somewhere in the Midwest.

Tom stepped into his line of sight with that damned smile on his face. "Welcome to yer new home." When Andy didn't react, Tom raised his eyebrows and continued with a smirk, "Yer gonna help build our little camp from the ground up. Exciting ain't it? We'd been living in that other place for too long and became too worldly." He turned to his followers, who were standing in a semi-circle around him and continued, "Brothers and Sisters, go and start unloading our possessions. Then find things off the land that we can use ta eat and build houses with."

His "followers" didn't even bat an eye as they turned and left to do what they'd been asked. That left him, Sharon and Tom by themselves. Andy wanted nothing more than to bull rush the bastard and take him down, but he knew they wouldn't get very far without food, water or transportation.

Tom turned back to the two who were kneeling on the ground in front of him. "Since it's getting ta be late in the afternoon, I'm gonna let you two make yer own camp; and since I'm such a nice guy, I'll even give ya a tent and beddin'. After that though, yer gonna have to work for anything else. Includin' food. No free handouts around here."

Andy glared at the ground in front of him, then looked over at Sharon to ground his emotions so he wouldn't say anything to make their situation worse. She looked tired, more drawn and pale than he'd ever seen her. She noticed him looking at her and gave him a small, somewhat reassuring smile. Her eyes were hard, he could see the anger and resilience behind them, which made him feel a lot better. At least his partner was still willing to fight. He wasn't so sure he could say the same about a lot of people put into a situation like this.

Andy nodded at her, telling her with his eyes that he still had her back, then looked up at Tom. "Fine. Now can we get our stuff so we can get started?"

Tom narrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth to say something, but he was interrupted by one of his people asking where something was. After he turned back to them, he was all smiles again. Andy honestly preferred it when he frowned. It was less creepy. "If ya get up, I'll get ya yer things. Follow me." He walked away without seeing if they would follow.

Andy rolled his eyes and stood up slowly, his entire body protesting the movement. He finally managed to stand straight and stretched his back. It cracked five or six times and all he could do was wince in pain. He held a hand down to Sharon, and after she took it, he pulled her up slowly so he wouldn't hurt her. He imagined that she was in almost as much pain as he was. Neither of them were exactly young anymore.

He reached forward and smoothed down a piece of her hair that was sticking out and trailed his fingers down her cheek fleetingly. "Are you OK?"

She sighed quietly and nodded. "About as well as can be expected." She touched the lapel of his polo shirt and patted his chest. "And you?"

He opened his mouth to reply, when a voice behind Sharon interrupted them. "Come on! We don't have all day. Get a move on!"

Andy wanted nothing more than to shout back some expletives, but her hand on his chest stopped him from doing so. "Andy. Bide your time."

He ground his teeth together as he clenched his jaw. "I know. I'm doing my best. This will be the best anger management "class" that I could ever dream about attending." Anger averted for the moment, he gave her a small smile, then took her hand and pulled her towards where Tom was waiting for them. She squeezed his hand in agreement and hummed a little, but chose not to comment as they walked toward the bastard who was to be their keeper for who knew how long.

Andy took a long, deep breath.

He had to have faith that their team would find them.

XXX

Approximately 1,300 miles away, Provenza crossed his arms and glared at Chief Taylor. "What do you mean there's nothing we can do? Of course we can do something!"

Taylor leaned back in his chair behind his desk and shook his head. "Lieutenant, we went over that abandoned camp with a fine-toothed comb. They left no evidence, no ransom note, not even a damn fingerprint! The only thing we found were our people's cell phones, which were factory reset and wiped clean. We. Have. Nothing. To. Go. On."

Provenza threw his hands up in exasperation. "Well we damn well just can't give up. _I'm_ not giving up."

Taylor steepled his fingers and was silent for a beat. "I'll have SID double check everything again, and we'll get phone records for Raydor and Flynn. Maybe those will tell us something. There's not much more I can do beyond that, Lieutenant."

Provenza nodded and slumped down in a chair in front of him, then ran a tired hand over his face. This wasn't looking good for his partner and boss.

Where did they go from here?

XXX

Andy banged the last tent stake in the ground and sat back on his haunches to wipe the sweat from his brow. He hadn't set up a tent since he was a boy, and it was harder than he remembered; especially without instructions. He looked up and watched as Sharon finished putting together the plastic sticks for the structure, and started sliding them into the designated slots. Once that was finished, she looked up and said, "Can you get the other side so we can pull it up at the same time?"

He stood and moved across from her, then they pulled it up together. It went up surprisingly easy, and they made quick work of the other side.

As they stood side by side observing their work, Andy turned at the sound of thunder in the distance. It looked like quite an ominous thunderstorm was brewing off in the distance. That's all they needed.

He picked up the rain tarp that was lying on the ground and threw it over the top and secured it. It didn't cover all that much.

He sighed. "Home sweet home," he said sarcastically.

Sharon smiled a little. "At least they gave us a tent. Frankly, I'm surprised they did."

"True, but they only gave us one sleeping bag. How do they expect us to both fit in there?" He held up the small, one-person bag in his hands, another scowl on his face.

She picked up a thin blanket that was lying on top of her suitcase. "I guess they expect us to make do. Unzip the bag all the way and lay it flat, then we can use it as a bed underneath us and use the blanket for the top."

Andy did as she said, although he could already tell his feet were going to hang off the edge. As he laid it inside the tent, she walked in and placed their pillows side by side, then spread the blanket over the top. It would have to do. It wasn't like they had any other choice.

He threw their luggage just inside the entryway, then stepped back and zipped the "door" closed. He casually threw his arm around her shoulders and leaned close. "Shall I carry you over the threshold?"

She laughed, the first genuine laugh from her in a long time, and slapped his chest. "Somehow, Andy, I don't think this is a great time for that."

He threw his arms up in playful defense and shrugged. "Never a better time than the present." He waggled his eyebrows and held his arms out in a cradle.

She stepped back, still laughing, the tension melting away from her shoulders and back (that was the whole point of his teasing, really). "I think we'll save that for the act-" she stopped herself, seemingly not able or willing to finish that sentence.

He rose his eyebrows in surprise, but decided not to comment on it. Now definitely wasn't the time. Especially since the thunder behind him was getting louder and closer together.

A change of subject was definitely needed. "Should we go look for something to eat? Hell, even some kind of berry is sounding awfully good to me at the moment."

She nodded. "I think I would kill for a cup of tea. Even water, if we're being honest."

Sharon reached over and took his hand, then started to lead him away from their tent towards a grove of trees. Hopefully there would be something there. They hadn't taken more than a few steps when they heard their names being called behind them. They stopped and turned to see Tom walking towards them. "What the hell does he want?" Andy asked as they stood their ground and waited for Tom to catch up.

"I told y'all to come find me when you finished settin' up your camp. You have firewood duty, but since we can't trust ya with an ax, ya gotta just gather fallen wood and kindling. We have others who will go out too." He looked behind him at the fast approaching storm. "I suggest ya hurry. We can't have wet wood."

Tom turned and walked away without giving them a chance to respond. Andy's free hand clenched tightly, but that was the only outward sign of anger he allowed himself to show. He didn't want Sharon to constantly have to calm him down.

He glared at the dark clouds moving swiftly towards them and looked at her. At least they could gather rainwater, although they weren't exactly experts in that kind of thing. Neither of them really knew much about camping or the outdoors. They turned and picked up their pace, reaching the grove within a few minutes. There wasn't much wood on the ground, but they found what they could and stuffed it in Andy's coat, which he had worn, but not really needed.

As they searched for something edible to eat after doing their "job", he felt a raindrop hit his forehead. They were out of time. The wind had begun blowing a while ago, but now it was gusting, blowing leaves and dirt in their faces. "We're out of time!" Andy yelled over the thunder crashing overhead.

He saw Sharon turn and nod, then make her way back to him. He quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her after him at a fast trot, although he wasn't sure their little tent would hold up under the strong wind and rain. They reached their tent in only a minute or two and dove inside just as the rain began falling at a downpour. He put his stick filled coat on top of his luggage and kicked his shoes off as Sharon did the same. She was mostly wet and shivering.

He moved closer and put his arm around her shoulders. "Do you want to change into something dry?"

She only moved closer to him and snuggled into his side; he could hear her teeth chattering. He looked down at the same time that she looked up and they suddenly found their lips inches apart. The atmosphere around them became charged, not from lighting, but from their sudden closeness.

He found that he didn't want to move away.

Deciding to be bold, he moved a couple of inches closer and kissed her jaw softly, then nuzzled her cheek with his nose. His stubble surely tickling her soft skin. When she didn't move away, but instead closed her eyes, he ghosted his lips over hers, almost teasing. She opened her eyes again; her desire almost palpable. He didn't hesitate this time as he pressed his lips firmly to hers, then opened his mouth as she did the same. She moaned as he wrapped his other arm around her and slowly lowered her down to her pillow, then covered her body with his; they never once came up for air as their kiss became more intense, all lips and tongues. Hunger and thirst seemingly forgotten, she ran her hands up his chest then just grabbed onto his shoulders and held on as his hands moved up her sides, stopping right under her breasts.

He was just as lost in their kiss as she was.

The rain was loud. The noises they were making were louder.

They never heard anyone approaching their tent.

* * *

Thank you for reading! I really appreciate all the feedback, more than you all know. Please let me know what you think. :)


	7. Chapter 7

Andy slid his hands back down along her ribcage and teased his fingers at the hem of her shirt. He didn't want to think about anything but the woman underneath him and the amazing things she was doing with her mouth, but he found his thoughts drifting. He'd been wanting to do this for months, and he found it kind of funny that the situation they were in was the catalyst that lead to this moment. Knowing how they both were, their real first kiss wouldn't have happened until they were both retired. So in a way, he was grateful for this opportunity; but only a little. He still would prefer not to be in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a psychotic cult.

Her hands found their way into his hair as she pulled him impossibly closer and wrapped her legs around the back of his thighs. His thoughts quickly snapped back to the present as he moved his fingers onto her bare skin under her shirt. She moaned against his mouth just as someone loudly cleared their throat behind them.

Andy threw himself off of Sharon and unsuccessfully reached for his nonexistent gun in its holster. He desperately searched around for something else to use as a weapon to no avail, but when he glanced up at their "guest", he raised his eyebrows in surprise and halted his movements. It was just a plain, brown-haired kid standing with his arms raised in surrender with a flashlight in one hand. Probably not even twenty yet.

Sharon found her voice first as she wrapped her arms around her herself, more from embarrassment than being cold. "Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?"

The young man lowered his arms and nervously glanced behind him before quickly zipping the door to the tent closed. "I-I'm Derrick. I'm s-sorry that I scared you, and uh, interrupted you. I had t-to come when Tom was t-taking shelter in his t-tent. He would k-kill me if he knew I was here."

The kid was obviously terrified. Maybe they had an ally after all.

Andy moved closer to Sharon and motioned for Derrick to sit, although he cringed when he saw how wet he was. "Why are you here in the first place?"

He reached over and took Sharon's hand. Her fingers were like ice, so he brought her hand up to his mouth and blew on them to help warm them up. She gave him a look of appreciation, then turned back to the kid, her eyes hard and her mouth set in a firm line.

Derrick set his flashlight on the ground facing up, then rubbed his hands together and looked at them nervously. "I'm here against m-my will too. My parents joined this..this cult, and they forced me to come. We've been h-here for over a year, and you guys are the first new people since we joined."

Sharon looked at him dubiously. "How do we know you're not just here because Tom told you to test us? And how come we didn't see you at all at the other camp?"

Derrick shrugged. "They hid me away when you guys showed up. Look, I really don't have any way to show that I'm trustworthy. I guess you're going to have to have a little faith." He had all but lost his stutter, either from warming up or because he was less nervous, but he was suddenly sounding a lot more confident. He pulled a backpack off of his shoulder and began to open it, but Andy stopped him.

"Whoa, kid. Our trust only goes so far. Hand it over."

Derrick sighed and reluctantly handed the bag to Andy, then sat back and began to chew on a fingernail. Andy let go of Sharon's hand and slowly unzipped the bag, then prodded it open with his fingertips. He could barely see in the dim light, but there only looked to be food and water inside.

"What's this for?" He pulled out a bag of trail mix and a bag of jerky, along with two bottles of water.

Derrick leaned closer. "It's for you. I know you guys have to be starving, and it's my only way of showing that you can trust me."

Andy still didn't trust him very much, but his stomach was grumbling loudly enough for him to just stop thinking and eat. He glanced over a Sharon to see what she thought, but she just shrugged and nodded. Shrugging back, he opened the bag of jerky and took a couple of pieces, then handed it to her. He took a bite and closed his eyes. Jerky had never tasted so good.

As they ate, Derrick explained that he had been lying low for so long that he didn't know if he'd ever get the chance to leave. He had basically been Tom's whipping boy from the beginning, and his parent's were so far gone that they didn't care. He hadn't tried to escape because he feared that he would've been caught and killed immediately.

Andy felt sorry for the kid. If, and that was a big if, he was telling them the truth. He seemed sincere, and Andy's gut wasn't telling him anything different.

As they finished their food, the evening turned into nighttime and the rain slowed to a light drizzle. Derrick picked up his flashlight and switched it off, then swung his backpack back on. "I have to go before someone finds out I'm missing. I'll try to get in contact with you soon. I've saved up some supplies, but we'll need to put a plan together."

Before either of them could say another word, Derrick slipped out and zipped their door closed. Andy tried to listen for his footsteps, but heard none. Apparently he was used to sneaking around.

Sharon turned her head towards him, but he couldn't see her expression. "I think he's telling the truth, Andy."

He nodded and fumbled around for their trash in the dark. "I think so too. Now we just have to figure out how to escape these bastards without getting ourselves or Derrick killed."

She sighed. "I'm exhausted. We can talk more about it tomorrow." She paused for a moment then continued, "Now I just need to find some dry clothes."

Andy reached out and stopped her with a hand on her arm. "I know exactly where a t-shirt is in my suitcase."

She allowed him to move past her, then watched his dark form rummage through his suitcase. He mumbled a few swearwords as he bumped his knee on the corner, but eventually he handed her a t-shirt and pajama pants. At least, that's what they felt like.

He quickly changed into a t-shirt and pants of his own, then moved back over to Sharon. She had already finished and was waiting for him to come back. Without speaking, they both moved under the thin blanket and pulled it over their bodies. It did nothing to keep them warm, and the sleeping bag underneath did nothing to cushion them from the hard ground.

He sighed. It was going to be a long night.

She shifted around for a few moments, then became still. He could feel her shivering even though he wasn't touching her. He felt like he should address the elephant in the room (about what they had been doing before Derrick showed up), but he didn't know what to say. How did one talk about something like that without it being incredibly awkward?

Instead, he moved closer and wrapped a careful arm around her waist, then pulled her up against his body. When she didn't protest, he allowed himself to relax and nuzzled his face in her hair. It still smelled wonderful. She grabbed onto his arm and sunk into his embrace; no longer shivering.

While he was trying to think of something to say, she sighed and whispered, "Good night, Andy."

He grinned and pressed a soft kiss into her hair. "Good night, Sharon."

XXX

Rusty hefted his bag higher onto his shoulder and walked out of the elevator towards the Murder Room. Provenza had let him know what was going on, but he was going crazy sitting at home doing nothing. Even just sitting in the office would help him believe they were getting closer to finding them.

As he walked in, he saw only Provenza and Tao sitting at their desks. He didn't know, nor really care where everyone else was. He tried not to glance at Sharon's closed up office, but he couldn't help it. A sharp pang radiated in his chest; he might not ever see her again. That hurt him more than he liked to admit.

"Rusty, what are you doing here?" Provenza rubbed a hand through his hair tiredly and sat back in his chair. He looked defeated.

Rusty shrugged and sat down in Amy's chair. "I want to help."

Provenza glanced over at Tao before looking back at the him. "I'm..not sure there's much you can do."

Rusty narrowed his eyebrows and looked between the two officers. "What aren't you telling me?"

Tao sighed from across the room. "There isn't much to tell. We've hit a dead end." They'd been working for over twenty-four hours straight without so much as a breadcrumb. He was at a loss. Julio and Amy had been doing their best to help as well, but Provenza had sent them home hours ago. There just wasn't anything for them to do.

Rusty stared hard at Provenza. "You can't tell me there's-"

The Lieutenant cut him off with a raised hand. "Look, Rusty. We'll keep trying, but I don't want to get your hopes up. It's not looking good on our end, but I would put good money on the Captain and Flynn getting themselves home. They're good officers. If there's a way to get home, they'll do it."

Rusty moved back into his seat and stared miserably at the desk in front of him. That definitely wasn't the answer he was expecting nor wanting to hear.

XXX

For the next week, Andy and Sharon kept their heads down and did everything the creeps told them to. They were basically slave laborers, to the point where they returned back to their tent every night absolutely exhausted. Sleeping on the hard ground did nothing for their aching bones either.

The only bright spot was that their relationship was progressing beyond what he ever imagined. He knew he was in love with her, although he'd known that for a long time. He just didn't want to move _too_ fast. She had begun initiating kisses and hugs, and he was over the moon happy about that, but he didn't really _know_ how she felt about him. They never really talked about anything besides their plans to leave, but he was OK with that at the moment.

No point in making future plans if you didn't know what was going to happen.

The kid had approached them only twice since that first night. One time to stash some supplies in their tent, and presently to discuss their options for escape. They had come up with a few different ideas to distract Tom and the other cult members so Derrick could steal the car keys to one of the suburbans. The keys were locked up in Tom's safe, but Derrick knew where the key to the safe was hidden.

Andy was confident it would work, but Sharon was not. "Andy, Tom's not stupid. I think he's going to figure out something is up pretty quickly."

He smiled and rubbed his hand up and down her back. They were sitting side by side on their "bed" while Derrick was kneeling in front of them with notes detailing parts of their plan in front of him. "That's why we gotta do this thing as fast as possible." He gestured at the kid. "He's fast. The plan is solid."

Sharon was silent for a few beats as Andy began softly massaging her neck and shoulders. He could feel the tension and worry in the set of her shoulders. "Well for the record, I'm not as confident, but I'm going to trust you when you say this will work."

Andy moved his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer, then leaned down and whispered "Thank you" in her ear; before he pulled away, he kissed her cheek (his week old scruff making her squirm a little), then looked at Derrick. He had a faintly disgusted look on his face, but not nearly as bad as he pictured Rusty having.

"So when do we plan on doing this?" Sharon wrapped her own arm around Andy's back and leaned further into him.

Derrick lowered his voice and said, "I think we need to wait for another thunderstorm. I know we came up with some other options, but..this one will work. It's the time

of year where they happen often, so it'll be a lot easier to get Tom out of his tent if we can tell him one of the new houses is flooding. We'll just pry off a couple of shingles, and go from there."

Andy had been assigned house duty, and there were currently ten or eleven small cabins being built. None of them were all that close to being finished though, which worked in their favor since they needed to wait for Mother Nature to do her duty.

Sharon sighed. "I guess we wait then."

Both Derrick and Andy nodded at the same time as the latter said, "We wait."

Andy only hoped it wouldn't be _too_ long.

* * *

Thank you for your continued support! And look, no huge cliffhanger ;)

Please let me know what you think. You guys are great.


	8. Chapter 8

It was another three weeks until heavy, dark clouds appeared in the early evening sky off in the horizon. They had been working from sun up to sun down to get the cabins built and ready to live in before another storm appeared, and it looked like luck was on their side since they were in the process of finishing the last one. Andy just needed to nail in one of the few remaining wooden shingles, then he would done with his job.

He glanced up at the approaching storm and smiled at his good fortune. He would leave off those last few shingles so that they could get the ball rolling on their escape plan a little sooner. He just hoped Tom, who was "supervising" a few houses down, wouldn't notice until it was too late.

Andy stood and slowly made his way down the makeshift ladder. His entire body hurt, and he wasn't sure how much longer it would hold out if he had to continue to do hard, manual labor every day for the foreseeable future. Sharon had taken to giving him a nightly massage just to relieve some of the pain he was experiencing, and while he was eternally grateful for it and her, he didn't want to do this indefinitely.

He approached the "leader" and called out to him, "Hey, Tom, I'm finished up there. All the roofs are done."

Tom smiled widely and patted Andy a little too hard on the shoulder. "Fantastic! It looks like we'll be able ta move in before these storms hit. Great work, Andy!"

Andy forced a small smile and did his absolute best not to roll his eyes. No use in antagonizing the little prick and causing unwanted problems right before they escaped.

As Flynn turned around to go and find Sharon, who had laundry duty, Tom called out to him. "Just so ya know, y'all will continue ta live in yer tent. Ya haven't earned a house yet."

Andy gritted his teeth and tried to mask his anger before turning around. It really didn't matter in the long run, he just couldn't stand the asshole. He looked at Tom and nodded his head stiffly. "I figured, since there's only ten."

He didn't wait for a reply as he headed in the direction of the designated area for laundry. Sharon hated doing laundry, but she preferred it to many of the other jobs she could have been assigned. He spotted her after a few moments, bent over a tub of water, her backside sticking up in the air. He couldn't help admire it as he walked closer, and he definitely couldn't help himself as he slapped it lightly as he came up behind her. She let out a rather "un-Sharon" like squeak and slapped his chest. "Andy! You scared me."

He laughed and caught her around the waist before she could slap him again, then pulled her in for a light, but intense kiss before releasing her. They were in public, and neither one of them wanted to be reported to Tom about their activities. He kept hold of her, however, and leaned in close to her ear so he wouldn't be overheard. "There's a storm approaching and I left a few shingles off on the last house I finished. Looks like we'll be getting out of here tonight."

Her fingers tightened on his bicep at his words, but she didn't sound nervous as she nuzzled his jaw with her nose and whispered, "Are you sure about this, Andy?"

He nodded and kissed her temple. "I don't see any other options, Honey." He'd begun calling her a few different terms of endearment to gauge her reaction; most she didn't like, but she didn't seem to mind Honey or Sweetheart. In all honesty, he didn't care what they called each other as long as they were together. He had come to realize in the few short weeks of their imprisonment, that he wanted to spend the rest of his years with her; being at this camp had cemented her into his heart. He was completely smitten.

She sighed against him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Tonight it is then. Are you going to talk to Derrick?"

"I plan to. Hopefully, even if I don't get a chance to talk to him, he'll be ready." He squeezed her tightly against him for a moment, then moved away before he could get her in trouble. He could see her supervisor off to the side eying them with a scowl on her face. "See you later tonight."

He watched as she gave him a small wave, then turned away before he could get caught staring at her ass again. As he walked back towards the main area of the camp, thunder rumbled above as the wind began to swirl around him. He probably wasn't going to have time to speak to Derrick before they were forced into their tents by the storm.

He watched as cult members brought their belongings inside the first few cabins, but there was no way they were going to get everyone in before the rain hit. That was a good thing since their entire plan predicated on getting inside Tom's tent, who surprisingly didn't look like he was in a hurry to get his own belongings inside his personal cabin.

Tom yelled over the increasingly loud wind; Andy could barely hear him. "Y'all take shelter. We don't have time ta finish moving. Just get into yer tents and we'll get everythin' moved after it stops!"

Andy smiled and searched for Derrick in the crowd of people running around. The kid was nowhere to be seen, unfortunately, and he was out of time to find him as the first raindrops hit the dirt in front of his shoes.

The wind and rain whipped at his face and clothing as he turned and hurriedly made his way back to their tent. He hoped Sharon was back, time was getting short. Thunder banged loudly overhead as he stepped through the door and zipped it back up. He let out a relieved sigh when he turned and found Sharon half-dressed. She was in the middle of changing into dark, warm clothes for their escape.

He tried not to stare as she slipped her shirt on and smiled faintly at him. "Did you find Derrick?"

Andy shook his head and reached for his own dark clothing. "It was chaos out there. The kid has a knack for hiding, so it doesn't surprise me. Let's just hope he holds up his end of the bargain."

She sighed. "I don't like this. The timing is all off. "

"It's not. As soon as the rain starts falling heavily, we'll move over to the designated Suburban and wait for Derrick." He moved closer and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "We'll stick to the plan. Our job is easy now that we don't have to worry about removing shingles. We just have to tell Tom about the flooding and run like hell." He reached forward and ran a knuckle down her cheek softly.

She smiled, then grabbed his hand and kissed his palm before nodding. "You be careful, Andy. I don't want to lose y-"

He cut her off as he urgently crashed his lips into hers. He tried to show the depth of his feelings for her as he kissed her, but he had a feeling she already knew. When he pulled away, he closed his eyes and kissed her softly once more before moving away completely and quickly changing his clothes.

The only sound in the tent was their heavy breathing and the rain overhead. It was beginning to pick up intensity, and Andy knew it was time for them to go. He looked at her. "Are you ready?"

She nodded, suddenly all "Captain Raydor". "As I'll ever be."

He turned and unzipped the tent, handed their backpack full of food, water, clothes and a few other basic supplies to her, then stepped through the opening. Cold, stinging drops immediately met the exposed skin on his face and he winced at the intensity of the pain.

Once they were both out, he pushed her softly in the direction of the SUV's. He watched her as long as he could in the fading light, then took a deep breath and ran towards the cabin with the missing shingles. He skidded to a halt in the mud and opened the door hopefully, smiling when he saw how much water was already inside.

He turned and picked his way through the mud as fast as he could, stopping at the tent he knew to be Tom's. "Tom!" He yelled as loudly as he dared, hoping no one else would peek their head out of their tent.

When nothing happened, he moved closer and tried "knocking" while yelling his name again. "Tom!"

Finally, some movement came from inside as he waited for the zipper to open. The door only opened a few inches as a voice came from the other side. "What's goin' on?"

"I was going through the cabins to make sure there were no leaks and the last one has a pretty bad one. You need to come as soon as possible."

Tom was silent for a moment, then said angrily, "I'll be out in a moment. Meet me over there with a ladder. Hurry!"

Andy didn't hesitate as he moved away from the tent as fast as his old knees would allow and prayed the kid was nearby. He was already freezing cold and the rain was only intensifying as time went on. There wasn't any room for error.

Instead of going to the leaking cabin, he snuck over to the group of SUV's to find Sharon hunched behind the one that they would be taking, shivering, but looking otherwise unharmed. He crouched down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Everything OK?"

She nodded as she uselessly tried to stop her teeth from chattering. "I haven't seen anyone. I don't think they suspect anything."

They sat in silence for at least ten more minutes trying to keep warm under the onslaught of water. Andy was beginning to doubt that the kid had ever intended to follow through, and that he had orchestrated everything for Tom's amusement. At this point, nothing would surprise him.

He checked his watch, using the little light-up button, for what seemed like the 100th time and opened his mouth to express his doubt to Sharon when they saw a dark shadow moving towards them. He tensed and moved in front of her instinctively. The shadow called out, "It's just me."

Andy relaxed minutely, not yet trusting that the kid was on the up and up. "Did you get the key?"

Derrick finally reached them and held it up just as a flash of lighting streaked across the sky. "I got it, but we need to hurry. I think someone might have seen me."

Just as he said that, a gunshot rang out and Derrick's eyes widened in shock, then went blank as he began to fall forward, obviously dead. Andy grabbed the key out of the kid's outstretched hand as another gunshot rang out, narrowly missing his own hand. He quickly handed Sharon the key and yelled, "Run!"

He turned and followed her, taking cover in front of the Suburban as voices and shouts began to follow them. "Sharon, get in. I'm right behind you!" He watched as she threw open the door, her small frame helpful as the multiple bullets shot her way missed their target. The Suburban roared to life as he ran towards the back door so he could dive in. Just as he opened the door, another gunshot rang out and he felt a searing pain in his side. His adrenaline was so high that it didn't feel like anything serious as he slammed the door and yelled for her to drive.

She jammed on the accelerator, but they went nowhere as the tires were having a hard time getting traction in the mud. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally found a grip and the SUV lurched forward at a high rate of speed.

He sat up, his heart beating erratically as he looked through the back window to see shadowy people running around. He assumed they were going to be followed very soon.

The back window suddenly shattered and Sharon swerved left and right to avoid getting hit again. Andy ducked, worried they would slide right off the road and get stuck in the mud. They were as good as dead if that happened. As they moved further and further away from the camp with no sign of being followed, Andy realized that he was feeling light headed, and the pain in his side was beginning to get worse. He glanced down and blanched when he saw that he was bleeding pretty good. Dammit.

"Sharooon, I'm nott feeling so go.." he drifted off, no longer able to talk as he grimaced in pain. Sharon glanced at him through the rearview mirror, a worried expression on her face. "Oh my-..Andy..Andy, listen to me! You need to put pressure on that. I can't stop right now. Andy, listen to me!"

He jerked his head up at her tone of voice and laid it against the head rest. A coat was thrown in his lap and he looked at it dumbly. "Use that to put pressure on your wound, Honey. Come on, you can do it."

He blinked up at her, barely registering what she was saying, but the terror in her voice was enough to get him moving. He picked up the coat and pressed it against his side, hissing in pain as it made contact.

Suddenly, bright lights lit up the inside of the SUV as someone approached them from behind.

* * *

Another cliffie, I really am sorry. :/

I'll do my best to update quicker than last time. Your reviews definitely help my muse (I'm pathetic, I know)..please let me know what you think! Thank you for all your support. :)


	9. Chapter 9

The bright lights shining into the SUV blinded Sharon as she desperately tried to focus on the muddy road in front of her while trying _not_ to think about Andy and how seriously hurt he was. She assumed it was Tom and his cronies behind her, so she pushed even harder on the accelerator in hopes to gain a little ground. However, the downpour was creating a slippery mess and she was finding it harder and harder to keep the vehicle on the road.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard a moan behind her, then his soft, rumbling voice. "Sharon, turn onn the 4-whe dri-, he drifted off and she searched the immediate area in front of her for the button to turn it on.

"Andy, are you OK?" When all he did was moan again in response, she bit her lip as tears blurred her vision. She didn't know if they were going to make it out of this alive. She couldn't stop and help him, and she had no idea how close they were to any kind of medical help. "Stay with me, Andy. I need you to focus on putting pressure on your wound. We'll find help soon."

This time there wasn't a response as she finally located the button for the 4-wheel drive and pushed it. It made an immediate difference as the SUV stopped fishtailing and righted itself when Sharon pushed down on the accelerator even further. She was pushing seventy miles per hour on a road she was completely unfamiliar with in a torrential downpour. Things couldn't be much worse.

She glanced in the rearview mirror again and saw that the headlights behind her were a little further back than they had been. Finally being able to see, she turned quickly to see that Andy had his eyes closed, but his chest was moving up and down; he didn't seem to be in immediate danger, but the blood on him and on the seat around him terrified her.

Turning back with a determined look on her face, she gripped the wheel a little harder and focused on getting them safely to civilization.

XXX

Two hours later the rain was no longer an issue, and neither were the SUV's following them. She hadn't seen their headlights for at least an hour, but she didn't think for a second that they had given up. Most likely they had taken a different route to head her off.

There was a quiet grunt behind her and Sharon slowed enough that she could turn to look at him for a moment. "How are you doing?"

He opened his eyes to slits and grimaced. "Not doing so hot, Sharon. I'm not sure how much longer I can hold on." His voice was strained as he whispered, and she blinked back tears that once again threatened to spill over.

"Please, Andy. Just hold on a little longer. We're almost there." She gripped the steering wheel, resisting the urge to pull over and go to him. Instead, she watched him through the mirror.

He coughed a few times and wiped a trickle of blood that had escaped through the corner of his mouth.

She blanched at the sight, knowing that that meant things were dire.

He was going to die and she couldn't do a damn thing about it.

"Sharon, I just want you to know that I love you. I know you aren't ready to hear it, but I need to say it. I don't think I'm going to have a chance to tell you later." He coughed again, his chest sounding thick and congested.

This time a sob escaped her and she pressed a hand tightly over her mouth to hold back more. "You're going to be fine, honey. Please hold on. I _need_ you, Andy. Do you understand that? I don't want to live without you."

He tried to smile, but didn't quite accomplish it as he pressed the jacket even tighter against his stomach. He would try to hold on as long as he could, but he knew time was running out for him. At least she knew that he loved her. He knew she didn't say it back because she didn't want to give up hope. He didn't blame her for that, he would have done the same.

They drove in tense silence as miles and miles passed. Sharon was beginning to fear that they would never reach civilization, and would be condemned to driving this dirt road for the rest of her life. Just as she thought that, the headlights highlighted a sign indicating that Lincoln was twenty miles away.

Apparently they were in Nebraska.

She smiled and glanced behind her again. "Andy, we just passed a sign. We're only twenty miles away from a city." When he didn't move at all, she furrowed her brows and reached behind her to squeeze his knee. "Andy...Andy! Can you hear me?"

When there was still no answer, she slammed on the breaks and put the SUV in park, then crawled between the two front seats and sat on the bench next to him. She put two fingers on his neck and breathed a sigh of relief when she felt a pulse, although it didn't feel right. His heart was beating too fast, and when she studied him closer, she saw that he had a sheen of sweat on his face.

She ran her hand over his forehead to wipe the sweat away and pulled her hand back in surprise. He was burning up. Panicked, she quickly made her way back to the front seat and put the SUV in drive. She could feel him slipping away from her every second they sat there. Just as they began moving again, lights again approached them from behind; this time much faster than before.

She jammed on the accelerator, but before they could get going, they were slammed into from behind.

Her head hit the steering wheel, hard. She groaned and forced her eyes open; all she saw were stars, but by some miracle, her glasses hadn't broken.

Blinking a few times, she cleared her vision enough to see shadows crossing in front of the headlights behind them as they approached their car. She locked the doors and wiped away a thin stream of blood coming from a cut on her forehead.

Sharon glanced back at Andy and saw that he was slumped over, completely unmoving. At least he hadn't flown from his seat, although this new position couldn't be good either. Someone pounded on her window and yelled at her to open up. She shook her head, trying to figure out what to do. Three SUV's had surrounded their own, they were trapped.

"Come on, Sharon. Open up. Ya know ya can't go anywhere. Ya might as well just turn yerselves in."

Sharon refused to look at Tom as she contemplated her options. There was no way she was going to just give up. They would most likely be killed, if Andy wasn't dead already. They would probably be tortured too.

No, that wasn't an option.

She knew they were just toying with her. The back window was shot out, they could easily just come inside and end this. She had to do something before they decided to stop playing around and really try to get to them.

Glancing around in front of her, she saw that the third SUV in front of them wasn't quite as close as it should be, and that if she rammed the back she might be able to escape. Another knock sounded on her window. "Come out, Sharrroonn. We have a long drive ahead of us."

She took in a deep breath and slammed on the accelerator. The SUV lurched as she rammed the back of the front one. It moved just enough for her to quickly reverse and do it again. "You stupid bitch. Stop that!" Now he was angry.

She rammed the lead SUV once more, clearing enough space for her to sneak through. Just as she began moving forward again, someone climbed through the back window and started moving over the seats. "Ah ah ah, you're not gonna get very far." Instead of stopping, she moved forward quickly, clearing their vehicle of the other three.

One problem down, now what to do with the psychopath climbing slowly over the seats behind her?

"Oh, it looks like your dear Andy isn't doing so well. Is he even alive? His voice was mocking, and it took everything in her not to turn and smack the smirk off his face. That gave her an idea though.

She sped up even more, reaching eighty, then eighty-five, then ninety. She just prayed this would work.

"What are ya doing? Ya know I'm just gonna kill you, right? You've caused way too much trou-"

She glanced behind her to see that he was leaning over the middle bench right next to Andy, and slammed on the breaks. She felt Andy's body hit the seat behind her as Tom screamed and flew right past her and hit the windshield with a sickening thud. He didn't move again.

Breathing hard, she put the SUV into park and quickly opened her door, then ran over to the other side and pulled Tom out. His body was lifeless, but she didn't know if he was alive or just knocked out. She didn't plan on sticking around to find out.

She moved back around to her side and opened the rear door to find Andy on the floor in an awkward position. She once again breathed a sigh of relief when she found a pulse, but it was weak and thready.

Trying to ignore her pounding headache, she tried to move him into a better position, but she was small, and he was dead weight, so all she could do was just adjust him the best she could. She comforted herself with the fact that his bleeding seemed to have mostly stopped.

She quickly moved back into the driver's seat and put the SUV into drive, then sped back up. Headlights were approaching from behind, but this time she had a good enough head start, and the freaks would stop and save their leader before coming after her. They would make it into Lincoln, the question was whether Andy would be alive when they did.

They passed another sign indicating that the city was ten miles away, and as she drove, all she could do was pray over and over again that Andy would make it.

XXX

Fifteen minutes later, they reached the city limits. Sharon was beginning to feel dizzy and the damn ringing in her ears was steadily growing worse.

She stopped at the first gas station they came to and stumbled out of the SUV. She had to hold on to the door just to get the ground to stop spinning in front of her. Once it was somewhat manageable, she walked inside and approached the clerk. He looked at her warily and she realized she must look a fright. "Please, call 911. My..my husband has been shott. I'm nottt eveen surrre he'sss ali-" She leaned against the counter and tried to keep from passing out. Everything looked and sounded far away. "Please, calll 911. _Please."_

She watched as he nodded a little fearfully and pulled his cell phone out. She tried to listen to the conversation, but his words weren't making sense. She was either in shock or her head injury was a lot worse than what she had originally thought. She wanted to go check on Andy, but she knew her legs wouldn't carry her that far. She was barely staying conscious at it was.

"Ma'am, they're on their way. Do you want to sit down?"

She stared at him dumbly, and shook her head. "No, pleasee go checkk on my husbannnd." He nodded and hurried around the counter, then went outside. She tried to watch him, but she couldn't see past the door.

Another few minutes passed before she heard the wonderful sounds of sirens. When they pulled into the parking lot, all flashing lights and sirens, she slid down the front of the counter and sat on the floor; her legs unable to hold her any longer. She put her head in her hands and continued her prayer from earlier that Andy was alive.

Someone approached her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Ma'am, my name is Dave. I'm just going to check you over before we take you to the hospital."

She looked up with tears in her eyes and shook her head. "My husband. Is he OK?

He shook his head. "I don't know, ma'am. The other paramedics are looking him over now."

Sharon gripped his arm tightly. "Please go find out, I need to know."

Dave shook his head again. "I need to do my job and make sure you're OK first, ma'am. I'll check on your husband's status as soon as I'm finished."

"I'm fine! Please." She gripped his arm even tighter with a pleading look. "I just need to know. Then you can look me over."

He sighed then nodded reluctantly. "I'll be right back."

She watched his retreating back with trepidation. After what seemed like hours, he walked back inside with a grim expression.

"Is he OK?!"

* * *

So sorry for the cliffhanger, and for taking forever to update. I got caught up in watching Stranger Things (if you haven't seen that yet, what are you waiting for?!) and The 100 (any Kabby shippers out there?)

Anyway, thank you so much for reading this and for all the support this has gotten. I really appreciate it. There will probably be one more chapter and maybe an epilogue, I haven't decided yet. Please let me know what you think! Reviews keep us writers going. ;)


	10. Chapter 10

He sighed, and it worried her that he wouldn't look her in the eye. She tried to stand up, to go to him and grab his shirt and shake the answer out of him; but her legs were too unsteady and she fell back against the bottom of the counter.

"Just tell me", she groaned quietly, wincing at the pain in her head. She looked at him imploringly and wiped a betraying tear away from the corner of her eye.

He sighed once more, then said, "I have to be honest with you ma'am, he's in extremely critical condition. They've already taken him away to the hospital. I don't know much more than that."

She put her head in her hands and did her best to compose herself before looking up at the man still standing before her. "I have to see him. Please take me to him."

He knelt beside her and nodded. "Of course, but first I have to check out your head injury and make sure you don't have anything worse than a concussion. Can you tell me your name?"

She knew he wouldn't relent this time, so she mumbled, "Sharon", and sat still and tried not to think about how the man she'd grown to love in only a few short weeks might be lying on a slab in the morgue. She had to believe he was still alive and fighting.

After a few more minutes, he sat back on his haunches and patted her shoulder. "I think you have a pretty serious concussion, but it's not anything to be too overly concerned about. You'll need to rest and do nothing strenuous for at least a week until you can get checked again."

She nodded in agreement, not concerned about herself in the least, and reached a hand out for him to help her up as he stood. When he pulled her to her feet, she wobbled, but managed to stay standing without his help. Considering that a victory, she took cautious steps with the paramedic following close behind. He helped her into the cab of the remaining ambulance, and when he began to drive them towards Andy, she put her head against the cool glass and continued her silent prayer from earlier.

XXX

They reached the hospital in a surprisingly short amount of time. She wanted nothing more than to jump out and run inside to find out if Andy was OK, but she would never make it by herself. She was still feeling light-headed and dizzy. Dave helped her out of the ambulance, then held onto her bicep as they made their way through the emergency room entrance.

A nurse approached them with a questioning look on her face. Sharon let the paramedic, who was still gripping her arm, do all the talking. She tried to listen, but she was too busy trying to keep her legs from collapsing underneath her.

When someone took her other arm and started leading her through the double doors, she looked at them and tried not to rip her arm away. "I need to see my husband. Is he still alive?"

The nurse guiding her had extremely kind eyes and a soft smile, and that made Sharon relax minutely. "He's in surgery so we don't know anything yet." Sharon looked around for Dave the paramedic, but he wasn't anywhere in sight. She wished she would have been cognizant enough to thank him for his patience.

"Where are we going then?"

The nurse smiled again and patted her arm. "I'm taking you to a room. You need to get some rest, as you've obviously been through a lot. We'll come get you as soon as we know more about your husband's condition."

Rest was the last thing she wanted, but she knew it was something she needed. Her eyelids were heavy and her body felt nothing close to normal. Even an hour of sleep would probably do her a world of good. After she woke up, she could do the things that needed to be done. She could be Captain Raydor again and call her team to update them, and get the FBI out to arrest Tom and his followers.

But now, now, she needed to give in to her body's needs for just a little while.

The nurse helped her change into a hospital gown and Sharon only woke a little when the IV was put in her hand, then she fell into near unconsciousness. Oblivious to her worries and pains for a little bit longer.

XXX

"Sharon, wake up." Sharon groaned and tried to open her eyes, but they still felt so, so heavy. Instead, she moaned and tried to turn away from the voice next to her.

"I have an update on your husband." She gave up all pretense of sleep and cracked her eyes open. Her head felt surprisingly better; they must have given her some kind of pain killer in her IV.

Her voice was raspy as she spoke to the same nurse who had helped her earlier. "Tell me, please."

The nurse smiled a little and patted her hand. "It looks like he's going to pull through. He was very lucky that the bullet lodged itself in a rib and didn't have a chance to do more damage as he moved around. He was as weak as he was because of blood loss, but the doctor's are optimistic that he'll make a full recovery."

Sharon smiled what seemed to be the first smile in forever, and held back the wave of emotion that once again threatened to overwhelm her. Andy was OK. _He was OK._ They were no longer trapped inside that damned cult. They were free to live their lives how they wanted when they eventually made it home. Free to pursue a relationship.

"When can I see him?" She croaked, reaching for the cup of water the nurse held out.

"He's in recovery right now, but they'll be moving him into the ICU soon. You can see him then."

Sharon handed the empty plastic cup back to the nurse and laid back into the uncomfortable bed. "I need to make some phone calls as soon as possible. Long distance ones. I don't have a cell phone, can I use the hospital phone?"

The nurse grimaced. "I'm afraid not, but you can use my cell phone." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and handed it to Sharon without hesitation.

Sharon looked at her gratefully. "Are you positive?"

The nurse, whose name was Laura according to her name tag, nodded. "It's not a problem. I have unlimited minutes. Take your time, I'll be back to get you when your husband is moved to a room."

Sharon smiled and watched as Laura walked out of her room and closed the door quietly. She had experienced nothing but kindness since she'd found her way into Lincoln, and she was eternally grateful for that. She had no idea what time it was, but it was dark outside according to the window behind the closed blinds. So it was either really late or really early. Either way, she was making her phone calls. It was too important to wait any longer.

She dialed Rusty's phone first. She needed to hear his voice and make sure he was OK. It rang a few times before a sleepy sounding Rusty answered with a "'ello".

"Rusty?" Tears filled her eyes at the sound of his voice. One she wasn't sure she'd ever hear again.

There was a pause, then, "Mom? Is that really you?" The joy and relief in his voice made her smile.

"It's me. It's really me." She wiped a tired hand over her face and listened to him fire off questions without waiting for her to answer.

"Where are you? We've been looking for you for, like, so long. I can't believe it's really you. Are you OK? Is Andy OK?"

She laughed. "Rusty, yes we're both alive. Andy's been better, but he'll be OK eventually. I just wanted to hear your voice and make sure you're OK. We'll have time to talk about everything else later."

Rusty laughed. "We've all been so worried. After all this time, we like, feared the worst."

"I know, I know. I'm so sorry. Things haven't been great, but we're safe now. We'll be coming home soon." She reached forward and poured herself another cup of water with shaking hands.

"Have you called Provenza yet?"

She shook her head even though he couldn't see it. "I will after we're finished."

"You need to call him, he's been going crazy with worry. Don't tell him I-I, like, said that though. We can talk later today."

She laughed. "OK, well I'll let you go back to sleep while I call him. I'll try to call you later at a better time." She paused, "I love you, Rusty."

He sniffed quietly, but his voice was steady as he answered, "I love you too, Mom. Talk to you later."

He hung up and Sharon couldn't help the small smile that spread over her face at his words. She was truly blessed to have the people in her life that she did.

Now to call Provenza and her other two children. They would be just as worried as Rusty.

XXX

An hour later, she laid Laura's phone on her stomach and rubbed her temples in pain. Her headache was back with a vengeance, and it was beginning to make her a little queasy.

Provenza was calling the people who needed to be called, and making the necessary arrangements, and Ricky and Emily were sufficiently updated and talked out of visiting her in Nebraska. She told them to at least wait until she and Andy were back in LA. They had finally agreed that that was best.

As soon as she closed her eyes, her door opened and Laura popped her head in with a smile still in place. "Your husband has been moved to a room. Are you finished making your phone calls?"

Sharon opened her eyes with a wince and nodded. "I am. Thank you so much for letting me use your phone." She felt guilty for not coming clean about her and Andy's real marital status, but she _really_ wanted to see him and they wouldn't let her if they knew the truth.

Laura took the phone back and studied Sharon closely. "Let me get you something for your headache first, then we can go."

Sharon nodded resignedly and waited for a few minutes until the nurse came back with two white pills in a little plastic cup and logged it into the computer. Once Sharon swallowed them down, another nurse wheeled in a wheelchair and left at Laura's quiet "thanks".

"Oh no, I can walk." She sat up slowly and swung her legs around to prove that she could, but the nurse stopped her.

"I'm sure you can, but it's policy. Sorry." Sharon didn't know if it really was a policy or not, but she wanted to see Andy more, so she didn't argue further.

Once Sharon was settled with a blanket over her lap, the nurse began pushing her through the long, sterile hallways towards the one person she wanted to see most. The anticipation was killing her. They eventually reached his room and Laura pushed her through the wide door. The first thing Sharon noticed were all the wires and tubes surrounding him. The second was that he was as pale as she had ever seen him. His skin was naturally tan because of his heritage, but she saw none of that now. It scared her.

Seeming to read her mind, the nurse patted her shoulder comfortingly. "I know it looks a little intimidating, but he really will be OK. All the wires and tubes should be gone by tomorrow."

Sharon swallowed and nodded, not able to find her voice.

Laura pushed her the rest of the way to his bedside, then said quietly. "I'll leave you alone now. Push the call button if you need anything. He should wake up soon."

Sharon nodded absently, already intent on finding his hand and never letting it go. She picked it up and brought it to her face. It was cool and dry to the touch, but he was alive. That's all that mattered. She kissed his palm and stared at his pale features. He was on life support, but she knew it would all be gone soon. He would be breathing on his own, talking to her, kissing her.

She couldn't wait.

She sat there with his palm against her cheek for at least an hour until he began to wake up. First with fluttering eyelids and finger movements, then with low groans emanating from his throat. She leaned closer and said, "Andy, wake up."

He groaned again and managed to crack his eyes open. When he accomplished that, he looked a little panicked when he realized that there was a tube down his throat and he couldn't talk, but Sharon ran her hand over his hair and made shushing noises. "It's OK. You don't need to talk, it's just helping you breathe."

When his heart rate began to even out, she smiled and leaned forward even further to kiss his temple. "Do you remember what happened?" He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment, then shook his head in the negative. It was probably for the best that he didn't remember _all_ the details.

"We're in a hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska. We got away from Tom and his cult, but you were shot in the process. You're expected to make a full recovery." He blinked in comprehension and looked at her with concerned eyes. She smiled and continued to run her hand through his soft hair. "Other than a concussion, I'm fine."

He looked relieved and nuzzled his head in to her palm, then closed his eyes. Before he fell back asleep, she needed to tell him something.

"Andy." He opened his eyes again, but he looked a lot less alert; like he was on the cusp of falling back asleep. "You told me that you loved me when we were making our escape. Do you remember that?"

He nodded right away, suddenly completely awake, and stared at her intently as if confirming that it was still true. She smiled and and ran her fingers over one of his furrowed eyebrows fondly.

"I just wanted you to know that I love you too."

* * *

Thank you so much for the support! I'm so sorry for leaving you on that cliffhanger for so long. Real life is my excuse, haha.

So do you guys want an epilogue or are you tired of this one? Let me know, and please let me know what you thought about this chapter. Thanks for reading. :)


	11. Epilogue

_**Two months later**_

Andy nervously drummed his fingers on the back of the couch, the gold ring on his left hand glinting in the sunlight coming from the sliding glass door. He'd been waiting for Sharon to come out of the bedroom for over twenty minutes, and now that he had time to think about what they were about to do, he couldn't stop fidgeting.

When they had returned to LA after he'd been released from the hospital, it had been awkward for him. He didn't know if she would want to be in a relationship now that they were back in real life, and he had had hours to think about it on the trip home, but as soon as they had walked through her door (well, he more leaned on her than walked) she had turned to him with a wide smile and a look in her eyes that left him no doubt about how she felt about him.

She had led him to her couch and dug in her purse for his prescribed (non-habit forming) medication, got him a glass of water, and made him feel right at home. That night they'd had a long conversation about what they saw for their future and what they wanted to happen, and had mutually decided that they wanted to live together and be together.

In the ensuing weeks, she had helped him sell off his house rather quickly. Rusty and Sharon had brought everything he needed from there, then hired a company to pack up the big things and put them into storage. Andy still wasn't strong enough to stand for long periods of time, and she had threatened him within an inch of his life if he so much as lifted a finger to help.

Rusty had been surprisingly OK with Andy encroaching into his and Sharon's space, although the disgusted look on his face never quite went away when he was around them. He didn't even like it when Sharon touched Andy's arm, let alone the ONE time he had caught them kissing. Now he walked into a room with his hand over his eyes asking if it was safe.

Andy couldn't wait until that stopped; it annoyed the hell out of him.

Teenagers.

A few days after they had returned from Nebraska, Sharon had noticed that he hadn't yet taken his wedding ring off, and she asked him why. He had shrugged and put his arm around her shoulders, then kissed her temple and said, "because I like the thought of belonging to you, even if we aren't actually married."

Her eyes had become a little misty, but she didn't say anything further and it made him worry a little. She hadn't seemed upset though, so he had decided to let it go. It was probably just one of those things he didn't understand about women.

The next morning when she'd come out of the bathroom after taking a shower, he noticed that her wedding band from the undercover operation was back on her left ring finger. He'd smiled widely, but quickly hid it as she turned to ask him a question from inside her closet.

Since then, neither one of them had taken it off.

When they were released to go back to work about a month later, the first thing Provenza had done was pull Andy away from the group to ask him "what the hell he was thinking" and gestured at Andy's left hand. Provenza had noticed the ring on her finger as well. "You idiots didn't go and get married did you?" The look of horror on his face had been priceless, and if Andy had been a little quicker, he would've taken a picture to show Sharon later.

It had taken the other officers time to get used to the fact that they were in a relationship, but once it had been cleared with Taylor and they kept a professional distance when they were working, people had gradually started looking at them normally again; to their immense relief.

Things had really returned to normal when they found out that Tom and his cult had been arrested and charged with the murder of at least four people. Andy was sure they would be linked to other murders once unsolved murders were looked into more. Tom hadn't died after hitting his head on the windshield, but he would have mental and physical issues the rest of his life because of it. Sharon hadn't been able to make herself feel too bad. He was a psychotic murderer, after all.

Andy's reminiscing was interrupted by Sharon as she walked out of the bedroom looking breathtaking in high heels and a navy blue suit. She smiled widely when she saw him looking at her.

They were getting married today.

Two weeks ago, Andy had sat down next to her (his torso still wasn't completely healed, so he couldn't kneel) and asked her to make it official and marry him. She had leaned forward and kissed him tenderly, then nodded with a warm smile. "Of course, honey. Nothing would make me happier." When Andy had began talking about planning a wedding and finding a date, she'd interrupted him with a squeeze of her hand, "Let's just do it in front of a judge, I've done the big wedding thing once already. As long as you're there with me, I'll be happy."

That night had been the best night of his life.

Andy was once again pulled from his thoughts as Sharon walked in front of him with her hands on her hips. "Are you ok? No second thoughts, right?"

He stood up slowly, then leaned forward and kissed her softly. "Never."

She smiled as she hooked a finger through his black suspenders and pulled him forward. "Let's go get married then."

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close as they walked towards the door. "I can't wait."

* * *

I really didn't intend to make you guys wait this long for the epilogue, I'm so sorry. Hopefully all the time jumping is easy enough to follow. If not, let me know and I'll fix it.

I hope this didn't disappoint too much, I'm always sad when it's time to end a story. I do intend to start writing again for "One of Convenience", so watch for that if you're still interested.

Please tell me what you think. You guys are great! :)


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